Start of the U21 European Championship adventure: that’s why the tournament is so explosive for our national team

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The European Championship adventure also starts for the Swiss on Thursday. With high expectations, a great team and an ambitious coach. The tournament is important and very explosive for several reasons.

Compete for the best seats

About half of the 23 Swiss EM drivers are aiming for a summer transfer. Defender Becir Omeragic is the only one who already has a new club. He moves from FCZ to Montpellier. The other transfer candidates need playing minutes to promote themselves to hundreds of scouts from the European top divisions. However, there is only room for eleven players in the starting eleven of trainer Patrick Frame (54). Is there a problem?

“I’m not stressed about the change issue. It’s coming as it should,” says Fabian Rieder. And captain Leonidas Stergiou says: “In a tournament you have to think about the team and not about yourself.”

The players are allowed to leave for negotiations

For a change, the players need their advisors. However, they are not allowed to go to the Swiss team hotel in Cluj, Romania, on the instructions of the trainer. Meetings between players and advisors in the city are allowed. Should a young U21 star also have to fly to a new club in the short term for negotiations or a medical check-up, this could in principle be done after consultation with Frame, U21 delegation leader Adrian Knup (53) and Nati director Pierluigi Tami (61).

Is the framework afraid of derivative players because of the exchange speculation? “The players and we on the staff have a relationship of trust. The day before and on the day of the match, the focus is completely on the EM, we look everywhere for solutions if necessary. »

The Cluj Curse

Four games, no win: that is the sad record of Swiss teams in the student city of Cluj in northwestern Romania. While YB at Dr. Constantin Radulescu played 1-1 twice (2020 and 2021), FC Basel went away empty-handed both times against CFR Cluj.

In 2010, Rood-Blauw lost 2-1 at the start of the group stage of the Champions League. Two years later it was even drama: in the qualifying second leg of the Champions League, Alex Frei (43) shot a penalty far over the goal just before half-time. The national record scorer failed from the penalty spot just six times in his career, including one in Cluj.

In the end it became 0:1, which meant a bitter transition to the Europa League for the Baslers, who were used to success at the time – and for Heiko Vogel (47) the beginning of the end of his first term as FCB coach . Almost two months later he was replaced by Murat Yakin (48).

If the U21 national team wants to survive the group stage of the European Championship, they must break the Cluj curse. Preferably in the first leg on Thursday against Norway. “If you don’t win, it won’t get any easier for you afterwards,” Frame also knows, with a view to the group favorites Italy and France.

Mission Impossible?

Paris. The 2024 Summer Olympics will be held there. And the U21 national team wants to participate in that. To do this, she must be among the top three teams at the European Championship.

arrogance? Or healthy self-confidence? Only two players from the Swiss squad did not finish last season in the Super League or Challenge League. In the group opponents Italy and France, on the other hand, almost every regular player is in one of the five European top competitions. 17 players in the EM have a market value of CHF 30 million or more. The most expensive Swiss, Fabian Rieder at 15 million, is only 49th among all EM players.

Conclusion: Dreaming of the great coup is allowed. But realistically, the survival of the group would be a minor football miracle for our U21 side.

Source : Blick