5 experts talk about Switzerland’s early exit

“Terminus: Vienne”, this was written on the Swiss Team’s Bus, “Destination: Vienna”. It hasn’t been the case, the Swiss players probably watched the final in front of their screens in some remote tropical island or in the comfort of their home.

Switzerland ends this tournament with an official 9th place (making it the best team of the 8 that were kicked out during the first round) but this clearly isn’t sufficient for the Swiss ambition.

The question “Considering Switzerland’s ambitions and everything that happened at this tournament, were these ambitions too high?” have been asked to the following individuals: Gérard Castella (former coach of Neuchatel Xamax), Uli Stielike (FC Sion’s current coach), Stéphane Chapuisat (former Switzerland and Borussia Dortmund player, chosen as Switzerland’s player of the century), Edmond Isoz (director of the Swiss Football League) and Alexandre Comisetti (former Switzerland player).

Gérard Castella: A full-squad Switzerland would have enjoyed a different result. There was no hope with most players who could only play at 80% of their full potential and all the misfortune that occurred. We didn’t have class and we were inferior technically. We should have been leading 2-0 against Turkey. When one sees what Turkey obtained we can have some regrets. Yet this also shows the difference between a good team and a great team.

Uli Stielike: It’s normal. Switzerland has dreamt without having the means to dream. No expert had placed the team as one of the surprise packages, same with Austria. We had false hopes in the belief that playing at home would give us an advantage. Would one have had the same ambitions had the tournament taken place in Italy?

Stéphane Chapuisat: Since it was a dream we were happy with dreaming. No surprise that we haven’t become champions. It’s a shame that the Kuhn era has ended so early. We would have needed everything to work to go farther than this. We were unlucky. After this disappointment we have to start again under Hitzfeld.

Edmond Isoz: What Switzerland did was disappointing. We should have said that we should have done better. Yet, since we haven’t done better, it’s because we haven’t done everything in the correct way and perhaps we should have done differently. Switzerland had the best team ever, considering where the players currently play. It’s not really a matter of quality.

Alexandre Comisetti: Switzerland has let its Euro pass her by. We needed all the ingredients. With an invisible Barnetta and an injured Frei, we saw our difficulties. The hardest though is that the fever hadn’t even started yet like in Germany two years before. Swiss people bought Dutch shirts to be part of the celebration anyways!