Updated9 October 2021, 17:40
The Swiss U21 team suffered, but showed a beautiful face, Friday night, at La Tuilière. She looks like her coach and her audience.
A few weeks ago, while the succession of Vladimir Petkovic was still open, I was wondering in my corner: «What if the ASF had the solution internally?» It’s true, what. Mauro Lustrinelli has done a good job with his young people, Switzerland is a formative country, hopes are growing… And who knows them better than Ticino? And who knows the mysteries of the Federation the most and haswould have been able to resume a qualification along the way? Well two months later, I haven’t changed my mind. Mauro Lustrinelli would have been a good candidate.
Okay, the 45-year-old former Thounois doesn’t have the most glorious CV. He’s only coached 13 Super League games, OK. But the guy still played a match in the Europa League, six in the Champions League and even twelve in the late Intertoto Cup! Lustrinelli wears the white cross on his heart almost without interruption since March 2015 (assistant of U21, coach of U16, before becoming the No. 1 of the hopes). In addition, he had 12 caps as a player.
The coach encourages his players to attack.
Urs Lindt/freshfocus
To have seen him evolve in Lausanne in recent days, the champion of the Czech Republic in 2007 with Slavia Prague is inspiring. On the field, in training, he pushes his own in French, in German, then in a mix of the two. He runs, explains, shouts, laughs, hugs the players. But what the Ticino wants above all is that his people do not let go. Go ahead. Urgent. Fight over all the balloons. And on Friday, against technically superior Netherlands, that’s what they did.
It almost did and Switzerland did not go very far with a very big blow, which would have opened wide the doors to the European Under-21 Championship, which will be played in 2023 in Georgia and Romania. She led 2-0, she could have passed her shoulder again at the end of the game if Dan Ndoye or Felix Mambimbi hadont been a bit more realistics… In short, the Rougets raced with one of the most prominent training countries in the world of football and this is in large part thanks to the enthusiasm and tactical risk-taking of their breeder.
My vœu piles ofu August 2021 to see Lustrinelli take the lead of the big boys did not look like the policy of the ASF anyway, the Ticino was certainly not the sexiest candidate fores sponsors et undoubtedly not German enough enough for certain overseas media. But when you’re Switzerland and you don’t have oil, you have the right to have ideas. Ideas in the game, ideas in the management of men. And that, Lustrinelli has plenty!
And then what a joy to see this Swiss team finally have its share of talented Romans … Genevans as if it were raining (Amdouni, Jankewitz, Imeri, Omeragic), Vaudois in spades (Husic, Okoh, Bares, Ndoye) and a Fribourgeois for the road (Mambimbi) … And again, we will soon naturalize welche the porter of SLO Justin Hammel, I’m sure! Enough to persuade the many children who came to the stadium on Friday that they have their chance in this sport.
Because as a bonus – and even if many tickets went free to under 16s – La Tuilière has shown that it can be a beautiful setting for international matches. They were more than 7000 to garnish it, that is to say the second total of the young history of the enclosure. So far, 4,632 spectators had been counted at the start of the season against St. Gallen (1-2), they were 5,635 in mid-August against FC Basel (2-2), 12,150 for the reception of Sion ( 1-1) and the full stadium operation was successful on September 12, as well as 4875 during the rouste inflicted by YB (0-6) ten days later.
With the crowd that will be present at the Praille on Saturday evening, after a week where Sommer, Shaqiri and company spent more time taking selfies than training, the proof is definitively made that the ASF must cross the Sarine more regularly. Whether with «A», but also the girls and the hopes.
Ils and they will all be warmly received there, as they say in 2021.
