- The Swiss U21s lost 2-0 away against the Netherlands in the European Championship qualifier.
- Despite being outnumbered, the junior national team conceded two goals in the final phase.
- After the 1st defeat in this qualifying campaign, the leader has to let the Dutch (1 game less) get within 2 points.
In the 58th minute the tide seemed to turn for the Swiss U21 national team. Up to this point you had to fight against the Dutch, Switzerland could hardly put themselves in the limelight offensively – the home team even more so. The positive thing for the leader in this EM qualifying group was that it was still 0-0.
But then Wouter Burger saw the yellow-red card. Ironically, the Dutch Super League player fouled his Basel colleague Dan Ndoye a little too rudely and had to leave the field.
With a man more on the field, Mauro Lustrinelli’s team was finally able to attack and have legitimate hopes of scoring a point away from home.
With the free kick after being sent off, Switzerland had their first big chance: Becir Omeragic failed with a header from Kjell Scherpen, who reacted miraculously (59′). Kastriot Imeri did the same 5 minutes later and in the 68th minute the post prevented Ndoye from scoring.
Debutant Tavsan scores twice
To the chagrin of the Swiss, however, things did not continue in the same style. The Netherlands recovered from the shock of being sent off and, as they had throughout the game, created chances again. Substitute Elayis Tavsan, who made his U21 debut, made the difference:
- After a corner kick, Switzerland cannot clear the ball properly, the ball finds its way to Tavsan and he sinks to make it 1-0 (76th).
- Only a little later it’s Tavsan again, who pulls from the edge of the penalty area and hits the high left corner to make it 2-0 (78′).
In the end, it’s a deserved win for the home team, which created significantly more chances and is now just 2 points behind previously unbeaten Switzerland.
The Lustrinelli team still has 2 games to play, the Netherlands still 3. This means that the Swiss could still be overtaken by their main competitor in the final qualifying sprint. Only the first in the group and the best runner-up in the group qualify directly for the EM 2023. The remaining runners-up fight in the playoffs for the remaining 4 EM places.