Switzerland is playing the second Euro “Son” match against Iceland (9:00 pm) on Sunday. The promises of the raging defeat against Norway (2-1) must materialize in points.
KEYSTONE
The situation is not yet critical, but could quickly become. After this first defeat in Basel, the selection of Pia Sundhage is found in a delicate position. The threat of early elimination, such as the one experienced by the male Swiss team after two matches during Euro 2008 at home, is very real. A new setback against the Icelanders, combined in a draw between Norway and Finland (Sunday 6 p.m. in Sion), would ring the death knell for Swiss hopes.
But with what they showed in the field of the Saint-Jacques park on Wednesday, Lia Wälti and his teammates can approach this second duel with confidence. They must forget this air hole which cost them the victory and the right to celebrate in style the launch of “their” great event.
Disturbing beginnings
Faced with Iceland, the Swiss must assume a status of favorites. Because even if the Icelanders appear in front of them in the FIFA classification (14th place, Switzerland is 23rd), the islanders have not really convinced for their entry against Finland in this group A nordic.
In addition to 1-0 defeat, the selection trained since 2021 by Thorsteinn Halldorsson has lost two players. Midfielder Hildur Antonsdottir was expelled for two yellow cards and the defendant GLODIS VIGGOSDOTTIR, sick, came out at the break. Viggosdottir, the captain who plays in Bayern Munich, wanted to be reassuring after the defeat conceded in Thoune, but she did not appear in training on Thursday.
Switzerland will however have to be wary of the fatal weapon of this Icelandic team, the striker Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir. The latter had played a very bad round at the Swiss in the League of Nations, scoring a hat-trick in a spectacular draw in Reykjavik in early April (3-3).
Some changes?
To dominate the Icelanders at the Wankdorf, where real lawn has replaced the artificial lawn on which the Young Boys usually evolve, the Pia Sundhage players will have to be more flexible than Basel. In the Rhine city, they took too long to adapt to the tactical changes made by the Norwegians at the break.
“It will be a completely different meeting, but I can promise you that we are going to work to give them a hard time,” said the Swedish coach at the post-match press conference on Wednesday, before adding that there would be “perhaps” some changes in the eleven. We are thinking in particular of Sydney Schertenleib, whose entry at the time of play has given back to Switzerland when Norway had just overthrew in five minutes.
In the Icelandic camp, the Swiss Fulgurances in the first half did not escape Thorsteinn Halldorsson. “They were much more aggressive than they had been against us in the League of Nations this spring,” noted the Icelandic coach on Thursday. “We know for sure that the Swiss team should not be taken lightly.”
