Yugoslav fightback denies Swiss
Saturday, September 1, 2001
Article summary
Yugoslavia fought from two goals down to secure a precious point away to Switzerland in UEFA European Under-21 Championship Group One action, and blew open the race for group honours in the process.
Article body
Yugoslavia fought from two goals down to secure a precious point away to Switzerland in UEFA European Under-21 Championship Group One action, and blew open the race for group honours in the process.
Swiss denied
Two goals in three minutes from Elvir Melunovic (34) and the prolific Ricardo Cabanas (37) looked to have stengthen Swizerland's grip at the top of the standings, and given new coach Bernard Challandes a debut victory. However, Yugoslavia fought back in the second half with Marjan Markovic reducing the deficit in the 58th minute before Ivica Iliev equalised with 18 minutes left to silence the home crowd at Lucerne's Allmend stadium.
Close call
The result leaves Switzerland on top of the standings with 12 points from six outings, one point ahead of Russia who have played the same number of matches. Yugoslavia move into third position on nine points, with Slovenia a further point behind, with both sides having played six times. However, the qualification race should become clearer when Russia play Slovenia today in Zagorje.