Lavanchy unbowed by Swiss struggle
Saturday, May 22, 2010
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Switzerland require a minor miracle to qualify as Group A runners-up but forward Numa Lavanchy told UEFA.com that his team's confidence has not been dented by their two losses so far.
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Switzerland may be without a point and bottom of UEFA European Under-17 Championship Group A with one round of matches remaining, but midfielder Numa Lavanchy insists he and his team-mates can take plenty of positives from their time in Liechtenstein should they be consigned to an early exit.
Last season's squad set a daunting standard with their FIFA U-17 World Cup triumph in Nigeria last autumn but, for the new crop of players, despite eliminating holders Germany in qualifying, the European finals look to have proven a step too far. Injuries and suspensions made an opening 3-0 loss to Portugal unsurprising and the subsequent 4-0 defeat by Spain has left Heinz Moser's side needing a five-goal victory against France on Monday, and a Spain win against Portugal, to progress to the semi-finals.
For FC Lausanne-Sport forward Numa Lavanchy, though, it has still been a time to savour. "Of course we can learn from it," he told UEFA.com. "For most of the team it will be our only qualification for a European Championship. We still feel confident in ourselves and our quality. The tournament has been a very good experience despite not qualifying for the semi-finals.
"I am very disappointed; everyone is and we can't say anything more than that. The team were hopeful before the game [against Spain] and we knew that if we won anything could have been possible again. But Spain were too strong for us."
The quality of Spain's display at the Rheinpark Stadium on Friday evening – which was capped by a clinical hat-trick from the tournament's leading scorer, Paco – will not go unnoticed by the other hopefuls. For Lavanchy certainly, the 2007 and 2008 winners will take some beating.
"I don't know all the players in the tournament but Spain's No7 [Jesé Rodríguez] and No9 [Paco] are as good as any I have seen," he said. "They both have a real chance of becoming very good players in the future. I'm not certain who the strongest team in the tournament are but Spain were definitely better than Portugal and there cannot be many better sides here."
