“This is once in a lifetime, it will never come back.”
Switzerland head coach Pia Sundhage had been unequivocal in her pre-match news conference as she urged her players to “embrace the pressure” of their opening game as Euro 2025 hosts.
Yet when it came to it, the Swiss did not get the win they so badly craved in Basel as their first major women’s tournament on home soil began with a 2-1 defeat by Norway.
The highly experienced Sundhage knows all about leading a host nation on a big stage, having taken charge of her native Sweden on home soil at Euro 2013, something she described as “one of my best years”.
This time her Switzerland team threw away a 1-0 lead and fell to defeat in cruel fashion, with defender Julia Stierli’s unfortunate own goal settling the match.
Ada Hegerberg had cancelled out Nadine Riesen’s opener barely four minutes before Stierli steered a low cross into her own net.
It made the Swiss the first Women’s Euros hosts to lose their opening match, but hope still remains that they will reach the knockout stage.
This tournament was not kickstarted with pre-match pyrotechnics or anything flashy. Instead the opening ceremony in Basel was playful and entertaining as performers danced with silver tubes before a giant Women’s Euros trophy was formed in the centre circle, surrounded by flags of all the 16 countries competing in Switzerland.
Sundhage’s players seemed to take the burden of expectation in their stride early on, playing on the front foot. They dominated two-time European champions Norway in the first half at a sold-out St Jakob-Park, but they could not see the job through.
Assessing whether her players embraced the pressure, Sundhage said: “Oh yeah. I have never seen that kind of locker room previously and at the hotel before we left.
“Step by step, the best part is it’s different players that use their voice. We were prepared. I talked to them after the game and it’s so important to use your language and your body language and words as well after defeat because we still have a chance to play the quarter-final.”
That is the message now – Sundhage wants her side to make the most of their remaining Group A games against Iceland and Finland.
“We start with Iceland and if we play a good game then we put ourselves in a good spot,” she said.
“Be responsible for what you say, what you do and how you behave, because that is the best thing for the Swiss national team and the Swiss people.”
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