Débonnaire seeks smooth progress

By Marco Keller

Just one of the three former winners of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship will be competing in the finals in Italy - but they had to upset the odds to get there.

Spanish trip
Having drawn with Northern Ireland and beaten Liechtenstein and Slovakia in the qualifying round, Switzerland travelled to Spain for Elite round Group 1 knowing the hosts were warm favourites. Not since the late 1980s had Spain failed to make an U16 or U17 finals, and indeed coach Juan Santisteban had overseen just one qualifying defeat at this level in his reign dating back more than 15 years.

Good start
Again Spain avoided any losses, but this time the tournament runners-up in 2003 and 2004 finished in second place in their group. Matchday 1 proved vital, as Switzerland's 3-1 win against Poland outdid Spain's 1-0 defeat of Denmark. Two days later, a late Beqim Halimi equaliser ensured the Swiss held Spain 1-1 and stayed top.

Dramatic success
Then, on a thrilling deciding evening, Halimi struck three minutes from time as Switzerland prevailed 2-1 against Denmark, good enough to oust Spain on goal difference as the Spaniards could only overcome Poland 1-0. Switzerland coach Yves Débonnaire, now charged with repeating his country's victory in their only previous U17 final tournament - the inaugural 2001/02 edition - admits his team caused a minor sensation.

Continuing improvement
"It is always a surprise if a team is able to eliminate Spain, especially if they are at home," he told uefa.com. "However, for us it is also the logical continuation of the good results we have recorded since the start of 2004. During the tournament in Spain, my players had to step it up a bit more and that's what they did."

Group opposition
When Switzerland triumphed in Denmark three years ago, they began by winning their three Group B games. In Italy, they have been drawn in the same pool, though for France, Portugal and Ukraine read Croatia, the Netherlands and Israel. Débonnaire, though, is not worried about the opposition.

Swiss focus
He said: "We lost one friendly game in the Netherlands 4-2 - I do not know much about the other teams. But that's not so important, we need to focus on ourselves. I can't really say if it's a good draw or a bad one. At this age group, the hierarchy isn't as fixed as with the seniors. We'll just need to go and play a very good tournament. If we don't do that, we will have to pack our bags early."

New level
As for any targets, Débonnaire is quietly confident. "Of course we have ambitions going into the tournament," he said. "We need to play at our best and it would be nice to get to the semis or the final. I hope the players will be able to step it up again as they have done so far. The first mini-tournament was one level, in the second we had to improve, and now we'll have to do that again. The players need to bear in mind that they have a great opportunity to play against the best nations in Europe and to improve even more."

Fans' expectations
But the 2002 victory provides a daunting - if encouraging - precedent. Débonnaire, while saying the win has not changed the approach of Swiss coaches, admitted: "Fans and the media have a different perception now. They have realised that we do some good work in Switzerland and that young Swiss players have a good chance of succeeding if they work hard."