UEFA.com works better on other browsers
For the best possible experience, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

Swiss strike out for border crossing

Switzerland stage Elite round Group 7 against Serbia, Denmark and Romania with the aim of earning a short trip across the border to the finals in Austria.

Switzerland stage UEFA European Under-19 Championship Elite round Group 7 against Serbia, Denmark and Romania from today with the aim of earning a short trip across the border to the finals in Austria.

Mixed form
Several of the Switzerland squad, including goalkeeper Yann Sommer and striker Bekim Halimi played in the U17 finals two years ago and they showed steel in recovering from losing 2-1 to Israel to beat Slovenia and Liechtenstein in the qualifying round, but they have drawn all four of their fixtures in 2007, a 1-1 result in Greece followed by two level games in Belgium and another on 2 May in Croatia thanks to Valentin Stocker's last-minute goal. They are without gifted FC Basel 1893 midfielder Ivan Rakitic, who has stepped up to U21 level.

Key players
Coach Pierre-André Schürmann said: "We produced a strong collective performance against Croatia and can be confident for the qualifiers. However, we still have to improve when it comes to creativity and technical abilities." Halimi forms a prolific partnership with Eren Derdiyok, who have five and seven goals respectively this season, while midfielder Adilson Tavares Varela is a regular starter for second division FC Lausanne Sport and the defence is held together by BSC Young Boys player Davide Rezepi.

Top-flight regulars
Romania are Swtizerland's first opponents in Grenchen tonight and are hoping to end a seven-year wait for qualification at youth level since reaching the 2000 U16 finals. Florin Cheran's side defeated Belgium, Georgia and Northern Ireland in the first stage, scoring ten goals and conceding just two, and several of the squad are regulars in the Romanian top flight including Eric Bicfalvi of CS Jiul Petrosani, FC Steaua Bucuresti's Razvan Ochirosii, Vasile Buhaescu from SC Vaslui and FC Universitatea Craiova's Andrei Ionescu. FC Dinamo 1948 Bucuresti also have high hopes for Georgian Marcu and Liviu Ganea. Cheran said: "I think it will be a close mini-tournament. Each team is a very good and skilful one and each team can qualify. We have some minor injury problems, but overall I am optimistic."

Serbian experience
Serbia also topped their qualifying round group, beating Moldova 4-1 and Lithuania 4-0 before a 2-2 draw with Croatia. Zvonko Živković has been preparing his team since 22 May in Sombor and has a full-strength squad including FK Partizan midfield trio - Nikola Gulan, Nenad Marinković and Miloš Bosančić. Their former club-mate Miralem Sulejmani, who is now with SC Heerenveen, is a dangerous attacker and will be deployed on the left. Živković, who helped Serbia and Montenegro to the 2005 U19 semi-finals, said of the current side: "New generation, new ideas, new strengths, new weaknesses...we were in the best four, but with different players. But, that was a great experience for me and I know very well what is needed for success at European level."

Danish hope
Denmark stuttered in the qualifying round, drawing with Malta but beating Finland 4-2 before a 1-0 reverse against France, and results since have been mixed. While in Spain in a February training camp they lost 2-0 to their hosts but defeated the Czech Republic 3-2 before going down 2-1 to the Canary Islands. However, among the key players are two Brøndby IF regulars, as defender Anders Randrup and midfielder Mike Jensen, plus forward Nicolai Agger, brother of Liverpool FC's Daniel. "All in all I think we are not in a bad situation before the matches in Switzerland," said coach Per Andersen.

Additional reporting by Paul-Daniel Zaharia, Aleksandar Bošković & Peter Bruun