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The national team coach talks about the lack of success and looks optimistically into the future.
The Swiss national team suffered a 5-0 defeat against world champions Spain in the Nations League in Cordoba on Tuesday evening. It was the 12th game under coach Inka Grings. The Swiss women’s performance during the Germans’ term in office, which began on November 20, 2022, is disappointing.
The national team only achieved one victory, defeating the Philippines 2-0 at the World Cup. There are also seven draws and four defeats. Overall, Ramona Bachmann and Co. only scored 8 goals in these twelve games and conceded 17.
We are convinced that it is a good path.
Grings is aware of the bad statistics, but she doesn’t let it bother her. «I just keep working. We will develop as a team, that’s all we can do and we are convinced that it is a good path,” she said the day after the 5-0 defeat in Spain.
Despite the clear verdict, Grings tries to emphasize the positive aspects of the game against the world champions. “We did a lot of things really damn well. Regardless of the result, I am generally very satisfied. We shouldn’t measure ourselves against Spain, they’re currently playing like something out of this world. And they are also far away from where we want to get to.”
Grings praises the players’ character
Nevertheless, Grings also knows that the current situation with the failures is very stressful for the players. “They want to, they work very intensively, they notice that we are really good in many areas and then maybe they don’t reward us or they have bad luck.” If you notice that you are reaching your limits, that is of course not very motivating. At the same time, she praises the character of her players, who are able to classify their performances well.
Grings talks about changes that need to be made. She knows that she and her team still have a long way to go until the 2025 European Championship at home, but also that everyone feels that it is the right path. “If everyone is willing to invest everything and put themselves on the back burner a bit and put the team in the foreground, then I am also convinced that we will present an extremely strong team in 2025.”
At some point you just have to say that it’s just not possible anymore at the moment.
First of all, Grings has to work through this move together before he continues in the Nations League at the end of October with the games in Sweden and again at home against Spain. Given the qualities of the opponents, it is unlikely that the recent weak record can be noticeably improved.
You have to accept that these are opponents who are a lot ahead of Switzerland. “At some point you just have to say that it’s just not possible anymore at the moment. But the players really do 100 percent of what is possible. It’s important to keep working in the same way, have a little patience, stay calm and also give the young players the opportunity to develop.”