Senior experience strengthens Swiss

By Marco Keller

Switzerland are banking on the experience of four players who have already tasted senior international action as they prepare to travel to the Netherlands for the FIFA World Youth Championship.

Senior roles
Philippe Senderos, Reto Ziegler and Tranquillo Barnetta have all made debuts in the current FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign while Johan Vonlanthen has enjoyed a sensational start to his national-team career. The striker became the youngest-ever scorer in a UEFA European Championship when, aged 18 years and 141 days, he registered against France at UEFA EURO 2004™, and has already managed five goals in ten games, including a hat-trick against the Faroe Islands.

U17 glory
With the exception of Ziegler, these players were absent for the 2003/04 UEFA European Under-19 Championship finals where Switzerland reached the last four on home soil, although Senderos, Barnetta and Ziegler were all in the side that claimed the European U17 crown in 2002. As captain, Senderos had the honour of lifting the trophy following the penalty shoot-out victory against France, while Vonlanthen missed the tournament as he was undecided whether to pledge his allegiance to Switzerland or Colombia, his place of birth.

English experience
The quartet have also enjoyed contrasting fortunes this season. Senderos and Ziegler impressed in the English Premiership with Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC respectively, the former finishing up with an FA Cup winner's medal. Striker Goran Antic is another who has had a good term, scoring nine times in 13 league starts for FC Wil 1900. However, Vonlanthen managed only three club goals in 2004/05, all with PSV Eindhoven before spending the second half of the campaign on loan at Italian Serie A outfit Brescia Calcio.

Lengthy absence
Barnetta endured an even more difficult spell following EURO 2004™ where, like Vonlanthen, he was a late call-up to Jakob Kuhn's squad. The midfielder did not feature in Portugal but broke into the side at the start of 2004/05, only to rupture cruciate ligaments on his second appearance, a World Cup qualifier against Israel last October. The injury sidelined the 20-year-old for almost seven months, but his season ended on a high note at least as German club Bayer 04 Leverkusen extended his contract by a further 12 months.

'Everything is possible'
Drawn in Group F in the Netherlands, Pierre-André Schürmann's team will begin their campaign against the Korean Republic on 12 June before facing holders Brazil three days later and ending their campaign against Nigeria. Vonlanthen believes clearing this first hurdle is all-important, saying: "We have such strong players that everything is possible if we are able to get through the group stage."

Problematic preparations
However, Switzerland have been hampered by a number of problems in their preparations, with Vonlanthen, Barnetta, Senderos and Ziegler all involved in the senior side's World Cup qualifier against the Faroe Islands at the weekend. However, recent friendly wins, 2-1 against Estonia and 1-0 against Egypt, have bolstered confidence ahead of the journey to the Netherlands on 7 June.

Schürmann focus
Schürmann, who was assistant to Markus Frei in 2002 and coached the U19 squad last season, is an experienced coach and is determined that neither he nor his players will lose sight of their immediate aims. ""I never look too far ahead," said the 44-year-old. "I am simply concentrating on the opening match against the Korean Republic."