Tami urges caution for flying Switzerland

Switzerland coach Pierluigi Tami warned his players they have not secured their place at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals just yet, with Sweden more closely matched to his side than a 4-1 first-leg scoreline suggests.

The turning point in the teams' play-off opener in Sion came after 73 minutes when, with Switzerland 3-1 up, Denni Avdic's penalty for Sweden was saved by Yann Sommer. Substitute Pajtim Kasami added a late fourth but Tami is taking nothing for granted ahead of the decisive return in Malmo on 11 October.

"I believe the margin of victory was one goal too high," said the coach. "If the penalty had gone in at 3-1, things would have been quite different. I can only warn my team ahead of the second leg – Sweden are a good side. They are always dangerous and we have to play at least as well as we did in the first leg to make the final step. The result has given us a real boost, though."

Sweden joint-coach Tommy Söderberg was disappointed in his charges' performance yet thinks they can still progress if they are more ruthless second time around. "Losing 4-1 was a bad result. We didn't begin well and were two goals down early on, which is a miserable start," he said, bemoaning efforts from Fabian Frei and Xavier Hochstrasser inside the first 20 minutes.

"Then we played well in parts but should have scored that second goal," he added. "I didn't like the way we defended, we weren't focused enough at times. Of course Denni Advic should have converted that penalty – then our chances for the return leg would have been so much greater – but we still believe in ourselves even though it will be difficult now."

Their cause is not helped, however, by the news that midfielder Rasmus Elm will miss the return with the foot injury that ruled him out of the first leg, while Agon Mehmeti (hamstring) is a doubt after being substituted before the break. Halmstad BK's Joe Sise has been called up as Mehmeti's replacement.