- The Swiss U21 national team fought for a late 1-1 draw against Finland and still has European Championship qualification in their own hands.
- Lucerne’s Luca Jaquez scored the equalizer in the 93rd minute at the Swissporarena.
- This puts Switzerland in second place in the table behind Romania and would qualify for the European Championships with a win in the direct duel on Tuesday.
Until the 93rd minute it looked as if the Swiss U21 team would squander their good starting position in the European Championship qualification. The Swiss were behind 0-1 in Lucerne’s Swissporarena. But then for once an attack worked. Captain Ardon Jashari passed to substitute Bradley Fink. He crossed into the center, where Luca Jaquez scored the much celebrated 1-1 equalizer in his home stadium. Afterwards, Switzerland even pushed for the winning goal – but a header from the unmarked Théo Berdayes in the 95th minute flew past the Finnish goal.
It wasn’t just a special Nati game for the goalscorer. With Pascal Loretz, Severin Ottiger and Lars Villiger, three other current FCL players were in the starting line-up. And Jashari also knows the pitch in Lucerne very well; he only moved to Belgium in the summer.
Poor chances in the first half
But little was noticed of the home advantage in Lucerne. The first half was short on excitement. Both teams had one notable chance each. Villiger saw his shot parried by Finnish keeper Lucas Bergström (33′), Loretz made a great save to prevent the Finns from making it 0-1 before the break (41′).
After the break, the offensive scenes increased. The national team survived a Finnish double chance around 10 minutes after the restart unscathed. But in the 72nd minute the spell was broken. A long ball landed at Casper Terho, who shook off his opponent and beat Loretz for the first time with a powerful shot.
At least one point
Thanks to Jaquez’s late goal, the national team still celebrated a point. And this changed the starting position in the table again. Switzerland is now one point behind Romania, which secured an easy 6-2 win in Montenegro in the afternoon. There will be a direct duel on Tuesday – if the national team wins, the U21s will qualify for the third European Championship in a row.
However, Finland is also lurking just one point behind Switzerland. If Switzerland loses, there is even a risk of falling out of the top 2. If that happens, the loophole of qualifying through the playoffs will also be closed.
