Switzerland vow to give all for glory

Switzerland coach Pierluigi Tami could afford himself a smile as he took his seat in the post-match press conference after his side's semi-final victory against the Czech Republic.

Because on the television screen above the gathered media was a replay of Admir Mehmedi's late winner in Herning, followed by scenes of joy as what the team had achieved sank in. "A deserved victory," said Tami, who vowed to "try everything to bring the cup home " when his charges meet Spain on Saturday.

All is not lost for the Czech Republic's Jakub Dovalil either, although he said his side will have to "clear our heads" and put in an improved performance when they tackle Belarus for a place in the Olympic Games.

Pierluigi Tami, Switzerland coach
It was a hard match as expected and very difficult from a tactical point of view. I think we played with the necessary passion. We took few risks but still tried to score goals and to take the game to them. In the end it was a deserved victory.

Mentally, the players in this team have personality and this combines with their positive energy on the pitch. The players go out with conviction, courage and they try to play their football.

I don't think we've realised what we've done. Before this match we were really concentrated on winning. Now we've won, we're very happy. Someone asked me before and said it's 83 years since Switzerland were in the Olympics, so it's something very special. But I look at the players and this team is very ambitious, and having got to the final we'll try everything to bring the cup home.

We didn't have too many problems defensively so I thought we could have a second forward player ahead of the No10. I also thought the Czechs were tired. From a physical point of view we have absolutely no fear about the final on Saturday. We are fit and have no problems with the physical side – if you play more with the ball, you make your opponents run more.

Jakub Dovalil, Czech Republic coach
We performed really badly – I didn't expect us to have the difficulties that we had. We didn't do what we said we were going to do before the game. That was the problem.

We haven't been in any sort of form here throughout the tournament. We know that we can play better – I don't understand it. We wanted to play more with our wide players, but we simply didn't do that.

We can qualify for the Olympics in the play-off. We have to gather our strength, clear our heads and we have to play. We know that, but so far we haven't done it.