Iceland in need as Swiss push for more

Pierluigi Tami's Switzerland will want to avoid becoming the first team from their country to lose to Icelandic opposition when they seek to build on their winning start to the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in the second round of Group A matches.

• Switzerland hit the ground running with a 1-0 victory over hosts Denmark in Aalborg on Saturday after Iceland had suffered a 2-0 defeat by Belarus in Aarhus. That latter result leaves Iceland needing a positive result to avoid an almost-certain early exit from their first U21 finals.

• The nations' only previous meetings at this level came in qualifying for the 1996 finals, Switzerland winning 2-1 at home and 4-2 in Iceland.

• They have met twice in U17 championship qualifying, both in mini-tournaments in Iceland. Switzerland prevailed 2-0 in 2002 and 2-1 in 2008.

• That latter fixture on 24 September 2008 featured goals from Renato Santabarbara and André Gonçalves which gave the Swiss a first-half lead, Zlatko Krickic pulling one back after the interval.

• The teams were:
Switzerland: Siegrist, Chappuis, Veseli, Buff, Xhaka (Zwimpfre, 80), Seferović, Ben Khalifa (De Filippo, 75), Santabarbara, Thoma, Nakić (Kleiber, 68), André Gonçalves.
Iceland: Árnason, Brynar Gudjonsson, Ásbjörnsson, Brynar Gudmundsson (Torfi Ólafsson, 21), Lárusson, Yeoman, Elisson (Kostic, 64), Freysson, Kristmundsson (Ingolfur Sigurdsson, 57), Finsen, Krickic.

• The sides also met in the finals of the 1973 and 1976 UEFA International Youth Tournaments, contested at U18 level. Switzerland won the first match 2-1 with the second drawn 0-0.

• At senior level, the nations met in qualifying for the 1980 UEFA European Championship and EURO '96 with Switzerland winning all four games, scoring six goals and conceding just one.

• Iceland coach Eyjölfur Sverrisson played in both of the EURO '96 qualifiers – a 1-0 away loss and a 2-0 home defeat – as a midfielder.

• He also featured as Hertha BSC Berlin drew 0-0 away and lost 3-0 at home to Servette FC of Geneva in the 2001/02 UEFA Cup third round.

• In UEFA club competition, the record of Swiss sides against Icelandic opponents is W8 D4 L0 F43 A13.

• Iceland's only senior footballing success against Swiss opponents came when their women's team beat Switzerland 1-0 in a friendly game in Akranes on 23 August 1986. The other two games between the nations' female selections ended with a 3-1 win for the Alpine nation and a 3-3 draw.

Switzerland news

• Xherdan Shaqiri scored the only goal of the game three minutes into the second half as Switzerland beat the hosts on Saturday in front of watching senior national coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.

• Shaqiri was named the Carlsberg Sport Man of the Match, having been selected by the UEFA Technical Study Group. "The Switzerland squad really played as a team and of course Shaqiri was the best player," Hitzfeld said.

• Gaetano Berardi was booked against Denmark, and will miss his team's third group match if he is shown a yellow card against Iceland.

• Tami hinted that he might make changes for the next game against Iceland: "For the first game I used players who had a little more experience. Maybe I will change the starting lineup against Iceland. A couple of players used up a lot of energy on Saturday."

• Tami is unlikely to be changing his goalkeeper, whose praises he sang for a string of second-half saves: "Having a goalkeeper like Yann Sommer defending your goal is like a jacket in winter."

• Xavier Hochstrasser came off the bench for the final 20 minutes of the opening game after recovering from a ligament injury in his left foot.

• Bad weather delayed the Swiss team's journey from Zurich to Aalborg on 8 June. All 23 squad members took part in a training session upon arrival.

• Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka, Admir Mehmedi and Innocent Emeghara were involved in the senior team's 2-2 draw against England in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying on 4 June.

Iceland news

• Iceland's first-ever finals match ended in defeat with an Andrei Voronkov penalty and a Maksim Skavysh strike – both in the final 13 minutes – giving Belarus the ideal start.

• Aron Gunnarsson received a straight red card for a foul on Stanislav Dragun that led to Belarus's penalty and means he will miss the Switzerland game through suspension. Rúrik Gíslason will get a one-game ban if he picks up a second booking of the tournament in the match.

• Iceland midfielder Johann Gudmundsson left the field after 32 minutes with a shoulder injury sustained in an accidental collision with Oleg Veretilo. The AZ Alkmaar player had scans immediately that confirmed that nothing was broken. As of Sunday night he had not been ruled out of the game.

• The full squad were involved in a light session on Sunday morning at Aalborg BK's training centre, before returning in the afternoon for a tactical session.

• The team's arrival was delayed due to airline strikes, meaning their first training session on Wednesday was cancelled. The following morning's scheduled session was also called off due to heavy rain, but it has since been business as usual.