Switzerland U21
Two opening games against bottom seeds Gibraltar offered Switzerland the opportunity to make a strong start to this qualifying campaign, and Mauro Lustrinelli took full advantage of the situation with two 4-0 victories over the group minnows.
The first match took place in Sion back in September with Alex Jankewitz, Jan Kronig, Felix Mambimbi and Zeki Amdouni all on target. In the return match a few days later, Gabriel Barès opened the scoring for the visitors before Mambimi and a brace from Amdouni completed the scoring.
A tougher test against the Netherlands in Lausanne followed in October, but two goals from Noah Okafor handed the side a commanding lead after 49 minutes. However, the Netherlands responded with two goals from Joshua Zirkzee to claim a share of the points. Despite the disappointment, Switzerland went to Sofia for their fourth match and claimed a 1-0 win against Bulgaria through a solitary goal from Kastriot Imeri. It has been a strong start to the campaign for the Swiss, with the number of different goalscorers a notable positive for Lustrinelli.
