Switzerland coach Claude Ryf is urging his players to "play to their potential" as they seek to cement a place in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship semi-finals on the last day of action in Group A.Ryf's squad lead the standings after two rounds of matches having scored late goals to draw with England and defeat Slovenia, meaning a point against Ukraine at the RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium will be enough to take Switzerland into the last four for the first time since 2004. Despite the 2-1 defeat of Slovenia, however, the coach believes plenty of improvement is still needed, saying: "For the third game we must be 20 or 30 per cent better otherwise we have no chance. The players must play better football and play to their potential – and not be afraid of the situation. The most important thing for us is always the next match."
Switzerland, who are without midfielder Daniel Unal through suspension, were in an identical position in their final Elite round qualifier, when a 1-1 draw against Belgium proved enough to bring them to these finals, and captain Rolf Feltscher admitted: "We have the advantage and that's important. There's obviously a temptation to defend but we can't think too much. We must play and look to win." After draws against Slovenia and England the hosts are of similar mind, coach Yuriy Kalitvintsev saying: "It doesn't matter who we play; we need only to win. We seem to need to ten minutes to settle every time and that's not possible in these competitions. We want to do our best work, and the match with Switzerland is very important. I promise it will be fine for us."
