Swiss striving to hamper holders

UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship hosts Switzerland and holders Russia come face on face on Thursday in Schaffhausen in a Group B encounter that could prove decisive to their respective ambitions. Simultaneously in Wil, France will be looking to build on a superb start when they play the Netherlands.

More pressure
The Swiss gained a comfortable 2-0 victory in their opener against the Dutch, as Russia fell 4-1 to France - results which left Switzerland coach Claudio Taddei cautiously optimistic. "We played Russia only four weeks ago [drawing 1-1] so we know each other pretty well," he told uefa.com. "This game is different to the friendly, the pressure is higher, but I think we can beat them. We know they have two or three very good players but they didn't play very well on Tuesday. But last year they lost their opener [against France] 4-0 and then won the tournament so we have to be careful."

Media attention
More than 1,000 fans were present in Winterthur for Switzerland's first game, which pleased Taddei who hopes for even more in their coming matches. "The media attention is unbelievable, in the newspapers and we are on the Swiss news for the first time," he said. "Now we have to get results! We can qualify, but it will be Russia's last chance so they will try everything to beat us; we must try not to lose."

Russia seek change
Taddei's opposite number Valentin Grishin knows things will have to change from Tuesday, when his team suffered in the heat. He said: "We are going to play a completely different game - if we are going to prove ourselves the stronger team we are going to have to." Russia striker Elena Danilova, who scored their consolation from the penalty spot, added: "We are looking forward to the match. It could be our most important one of the finals so we will do our best."

Pilard cautious
France coach Stéphane Pilard, in contrast to his Russian rival, will want a repeat of Tuesday's performance when his side meet the Dutch knowing victory could seal a semi-final place, although he acknowledged: "In this tournament there are no easy games. Our striker Aurélie Mula has an ankle injury, so we will have to see about that."

Dutch plan
The form of France means there will have to be, according their coach Ed Engelkes, an improvement from the Netherlands. "Of course we have respect for France, they are a strong team with experience who made the final last year and performed well against Russia," he said. "But our senior team won 1-0 in France and nobody expected that. We know their strengths and weaknesses so we have to make it as good as possible for us and as tough as possible for the French. But we must battle or we will lose, as we did against Hungary in qualification."