Abiodun Jimoh
5 November 2009
Lagos — Not relenting on his team hard earned second round victory over Germany, Switzerland Coach Dany Ryser has confirmed that beating Italy in the quarter final would not be an easy task for the team.
Ryser, whose young and determined team eliminated the European champions at the Teslim Balogun Stadium Lagos in a seven-goal thriller on Wednesday night, stated that though they would be playing against a familiar foe, but expecting a tougher game from the Azzurrinis.
He said despite beating the Italians 3-1 during their UEFA European U-17 Championship, they would still be a tough nut to crack.
"Though we defeated the Italians during the European U-17 World Cup qualifiers it will not be the yardstick for us to rely upon here. It is going to be a different ball game when we meet in the quarterfinal on Sunday at Ijebu-Ode stadium," he said.
Moreover, the coach noted that they would study the Italians style of play and strategies on how to beat them.
"We are going to be cautious when playing them because both teams have the pedigree to advance to the semifinal of the event at the end of 90 minutes. We will not underrate them just because we had beat them earlier in Europe, they will be playing like wounded lions to salvage their pride in Nigeria, but I have confidence in my players as they will deliver the needed goals and earn the victory at last," he declared.
"This is our first outing in the FIFA U-17 world cup, and we were once addressed as underdogs before the kicked-off of the event two weeks ago, now all eyes are on us as a result of our brilliant performance since the championship started. So come Sunday we will continue our remarkable feat as we cannot afford to be eliminated at this stage of the competition by Italy.
"Italians will be on their way home by Monday morning by the time we are through with them," he claimed.
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