By advancing to the quarter-finals, the national team has more than impressively demonstrated its class. But there is still more to come. This raises the question of whether Switzerland has ever had such a strong squad.
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- By reaching the quarter-finals, the Swiss national team has already reached an important milestone at the European Championship.
- SFA director Pierluigi Tami, however, diminishes the result and wants even more.
- If there is more to come, he may be tempted to make a clearer statement on whether this is the best national team of all time.
With players such as Granit Xhaka, Yann Sommer and Manuel Akanji, the Swiss national team has several of last season's international champion heroes at this tournament. At the same time, the harmony in the team is right and the tactical alignment has also been right so far.
By reaching the quarter-finals, the minimum goal has already been achieved. But you can sense that there is still more to come with this team. National team director Pierluigi Tami shares this view in the football talk "Heimspiel bei der Nati": "At the moment, we haven't achieved anything yet."
That's a bit harsh. But Tami only wants to focus on the next game against England. He's not talking about a possible title or similar mind games, but simply about taking one step at a time.
Every player has to take a saliva test in the morning
At Monday's press conference, Tami said that the players were physically and mentally ready for the next task. Things were very different at the last World Cup in Qatar, as Tami revealed: "We noticed that the players were running out of energy." Their tanks were empty in the bitter 6-1 defeat to Portugal in the round of 16. This time, the team is bursting with energy and conviction.
Somehow everything just seems to fit together. In this respect, the question arises as to whether this is the best national team of all time. However, Tami is cautious here. He thanks them for the indirect compliment and says that he might be prepared to come back to the question if they qualify for the semi-finals.
blue Sport editor-in-chief Andreas Böni, on the other hand, has clearer words: "In terms of talent, she certainly is. But I think every generation has had its charm." In 1994, for example, the team qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. Then came the generation around Alex Frei, who could perhaps have achieved more. "And now it's Xhaka, Shaqiri, etc., who have shaped the national team for years and can now make history. The prerequisites for this are 100 percent in place."
