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After the first victory in the 5th Nations League game, you can see happy faces on Switzerland’s side.
Interim coach Reto Gertschen wanted to see “a cool performance” from his team in the last two games of the year, as the 58-year-old revealed. His protégés succeeded completely in the 1-0 coup against world number 1 Sweden on Friday evening. Gertschen was correspondingly happy on the pitch in Lucerne: “We wanted to play forward courageously. “Especially in the first quarter of an hour, the players implemented this and stepped up their game.”
Gertschen said they also claimed a bit of luck. But: “The players gave it their all, threw themselves into the shots and achieved a deserved victory.”
Everything given
Goalscorer Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic also mentioned that Switzerland had the luck of the bunch in one scene or another: “They hit the inside post and then the post again.” But the team earned this happiness “with their good attitude and fight.”
The ultimate goal was to not have to be accused of not giving everything after the match. «And we achieved that. Therefore: A big compliment to the team,” said Crnogorcevic.
Communication and cohesion as a factor
Goalkeeper Elvira Herzog struggled for words after the final whistle and spoke of “a difficult time” that the team had had behind them. “To come back like this and show such an incredible team performance – I don’t have the words,” said the 23-year-old into the SRF microphone. Herzog explicitly named communication and cohesion as the key to success against Sweden.
Because Italy surprisingly won 3-2 against group winners Spain late on Friday evening, Switzerland is relegated from League A of the Nations League despite the win against Sweden. Nevertheless, the Gertschen team wants to put in a “cool performance” against the Italians on Tuesday at the end of the year.