Switzerland – Portugal on Saturday – EM opener for the Nati: A win is mandatory – sport


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More than three points are at stake in the Swiss women’s first group game against Portugal.

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Legend:

Let’s go

With immediate effect, the closed season for Fabienne Humm, Rahel Kiwic and Lia Wälti at the finals of the European Championship is over.

KEYSTONE/Salvatore Di Nolfi

Lia Wälti takes a selfie on the hotel terrace, Coumba Sow puts on his sunglasses at the garden table. The midfielders and other teammates enjoy the idyll and the free Thursday afternoon at the Oulton Hall Hotel near Leeds. The proverbial calm before the storm?

On Saturday evening, when Lia Wälti captains the Swiss national team, the calm will be over. In the “Leigh Sports Village” Portugal is waiting for the EM kick-off.

Finally turn the pressure into positive energy

For the Swiss, a win against world number 30 is a must if they want to keep their chance of reaching the quarter-finals. With world numbers 2 and 4 Sweden (Wednesday) and the defending champions from the Netherlands (Sunday, July 17), top-class opponents await Nils Nielsen’s team in the following Group C games.

I feel pure joy.

In the opening game, however, more than three points are at stake – with a good performance and a win, the Swiss can prove that they can handle the pressure even in decisive games. What recently only happened in the playoff match against the Czech Republic in April 2021, when the Swiss qualified for the European Championship in a penalty shootout, but never otherwise.

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Follow the game Portugal vs. Switzerland on Saturday live on SRF zwei and in the stream with ticker at srf.ch/sport and in the Sport App. At 5.15pm we start with the pre-coverage, with kick-off in Leigh at 6pm

Neither in the 2017 European Championship start game against Austria nor in the 2018 World Cup playoffs and not least against Italy in the World Cup qualifier at home in Thun could you withstand the expectations. The Swiss lost all of these decisive encounters. On Saturday against Portugal they have the chance to end this series and start the tournament with a good feeling.

Last three zeros: Goals are needed

The transfer of the training ground from Rothwell to Huddersfield does not seem to have bothered the Swiss. Training was concentrated and with a lot of effort, including various attack exercises on the goal of Gaëlle Thalmann on the program. The 36-year-old is happy that it’s finally starting on Saturday: “I feel pure joy,” said Thalmann on Thursday. “The tension will certainly increase. But that helps to perform well.”

In addition to a good performance, goals are needed against Portugal, in the last three games not a single goal was scored. The offensive is required, because a defender, Rahel Kiwic, recently scored for Switzerland against Romania in April. “We are ready,” goalkeeper Thalmann is convinced.

If Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic appears in the first group game – which is to be expected – then the 31-year-old from Steffisburg overtakes Lara Dickenmann and becomes the Swiss record national player with 136 appearances, including men. One way or another, Saturday will be a round thing for Wälti – the captain has played 99 international matches and is therefore about to make her 100th appearance for Switzerland.

Possible Swiss line-up

Thalmann; Maritz, Buehler, Calligaris, Aigbogun; Xhemaili, Walti; Reuteler, Sow, Crnogorcevic, Bachmann.

The complete Swiss EM squad in the picture

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