Euro joy for juniors

The Swiss players celebrate their historic achievement Keystone

Switzerland have qualified for the European Under-21 football championships for the first ever time, after completing a 4-2 aggregate win over Ukraine.

“It’s a great feeling,” beamed the delighted under-21 coach Bernard Challendes after seeing his team clinch their European place. “We have worked very hard. We had a dream and now we have realised it. To be among the top eight teams in Europe is wonderful.”

Leading 2-1 from Sunday’s first leg in Kiev, the Swiss juniors were pegged back in the 63rd minute of Wednesday’s return leg in Aarau. A free kick from Akopian deflected off the shoulder of Reto Zanni and past a wrong-footed Beney in the Swiss goal.

Penalty relief

But two penalties in the space of nine minutes saw Switzerland take control of the match.

Koteljuk was the unfortunate Ukrainian who conceded both of the spot kicks, first bringing down Alex Frei in the 69th minute, before handling in the area in the 78th.

Team captain Ricardo Cabanas converted the first penalty to level the score on the night, before Frei tucked away the second, making it 2-1 in Aarau and 4-2 overall.

Wednesday’s win completed a remarkable run of results by the Swiss juniors, who remained unbeaten throughout all ten of their qualifying matches – seeing off the likes of Russia, Yugoslavia and Slovenia in the group stage before their two victories over Ukraine.

Much of the groundwork was done by former under-21 coach Köbi Kuhn who trained the side for four years, before leaving mid-way through the qualifying campaign to become manager of the Swiss senior side.

While Kuhn was unable to steer the seniors towards their goal of a place in next year’s World Cup, his work with the under-21 side and its continuation under Challendes has at least given Swiss football fans a young team to cheer on next summer.

Among the cream

The European under-21 Championships get underway just two weeks before the start of the World Cup and the Swiss juniors will find themselves among the cream of the continent’s young stars.

France, England, Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece and Belgium will be the other teams vying for the title.

In a possible further boost for Switzerland, the competition will be staged in one of the eight countries which have qualified for the event. The Swiss football association told swissinfo earlier this week that it would be deciding later this month whether or not to bid for the championships.

by Mark Ledsom