Switzerland pride comes after fall

Switzerland's players rued their first-half performance after they lost 2-1 to Netherlands to miss out on a place in Monday's UEFA European Under-17 Championship final, although captain Frédéric Veseli was quick to point out the positives of an impressive campaign, saying "we should feel proud that we represented our country so well".

Two halves
Two-nil down at the break, Switzerland dominated the second half in Grimma and pulled a goal back in the 53rd minute through Janick Kamber, but ultimately fell short of giving themselves a chance to regain the U17 crown they won in 2002. "We did not start the game very well," Manchester City FC centre-back Veseli said. "We let them play, which was exactly the thing not to do. In the second half we did the opposite. I think they hardly saw the ball and we had plenty of chances."

'Strong words'
Team-mate Nassim Ben Khalifa, now a veteran of two U17 campaigns, agreed with his skipper. "We started the game too defensively," the Grasshopper-Club forward said. "We were being forced deeper and deeper into our box and they scored from a through ball. There were some strong words at half-time and the coach made a few changes. We started the second half really well and pushed till the end, it's just a shame that we did not score again."

Pride
Despite the defeat, Veseli was proud of the way Switzerland fought until the end. "I have no regrets because we gave everything we had," he added. "We didn't play our best today but we've had a magnificent tournament. Of course we were dreaming about playing the final, but after the match I told my team-mates that it was already a great thing to make the semi-finals, that we should feel proud of ourselves and we represented Switzerland well."

Great experience
Switzerland had a number of near misses as the game reached a dramatic climax, none more so than midfielder Roman Buess's shot from 15 metres out in the last minute of added time. One of the team's most consistent performers in the tournament, Kofi Nimeley, was at a loss to explain how Dany Ryser's side did not claim a second goal, but put the experience of the tournament, in which they drew 1-1 with France, beat Italy 3-1 and held defending champions Spain 0-0 to top Group A, into perspective. "We were very unlucky and I can't say much else," the FC Basel 1893 midfielder said. "I was very surprised about how high the standard is at this tournament and very happy about how much I learned here and have no doubt it will help me in the future."