The U21 team loses the crucial match in Romania, drops to third place in the group on the final matchday and thus misses out on next year's European Championship. This is what coach Sascha Stauch and national team director Pierluigi Tami have to say.
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- The U21 team loses to Romania in the final group match of the European Championship qualifiers after a controversial sending-off and drops to third place in the table.
- Sascha Stauch's team therefore misses out on next year's finals. The disappointment in the Swiss camp is huge.
- Coach Stauch and national team director Pierluigi Tami agree that the team's ticket to the European Championship was already lost before the final game.
The dream is over for the Swiss U21 national team. In the crucial last group game of the European Championship qualifiers, Switzerland lost 3:1 to Romania, slipping to third place in the table and finally dropping out of the race for a ticket to the finals.
Against Romania, an early sending off against Luca Jaquez gives rise to discussion. In the 28th minute, Jaquez was first cautioned by the referee for a foul. Romania coach Pancu then stormed onto the pitch, furious and gesticulating wildly in an attempt to change the referee's mind. After Pancu himself is shown the red card, the referee actually revises his decision and shows Jaquez the red card instead of a yellow.
"Scandalous decision" decides the match
"For me, that's actually a scandalous decision," said U21 coach Sascha Stauch after the final whistle when asked about the scene. "The opposing coach gets violent, takes the yellow card he wanted to show Jaquez out of the referee's hand and then gets a red card himself. In the end, he is rewarded for it."
The disappointment in the Swiss camp is huge. "In the end, brutal reality caught up with us today. We showed a very good attitude, but the red card decided the game," says Stauch. However, they didn't lose out on qualification for the European Championship against Romania: "On the contrary. Today, even with ten players, the team believed in it and dominated their opponents at times."
Stauch's team, on the other hand, can be accused of having missed good opportunities before the last game, which ultimately cost them their ticket to the European Championship. National team director Pierluigi Tami also underlines this. "We missed out on qualification in various games. Even the draw in Armenia was a negative result. And the defeat at home to Albania was too much," says Tami, adding: "If we lose two points against Armenia and three points against Albania, then the team didn't show what we expected."
