SWITZERLAND coach Vladimir Petkovic has challenged his players to create history and beat Romania in Paris to secure qualification for the knock-out stages of Euro 2016.
The Swiss defeated Albania 1-0 in Lens last Saturday, having failed to build on an early goal from Fabian Schar after playing against 10 men when rival captain Lorik Cana was sent-off in the 36th minute. Romania, meanwhile, lost 2-1 on the opening night of the tournament against hosts France, but only following a spectacular late strike from Dimitri Payet.
With their final Group A fixture coming against Les Bleus in Lille on June 19, Petkovic knows Switzerland must deliver the required performance at Parc des Princes: "Our aim after two matches is to try to get through to the next stage of the competition, so we are going to do everything in our power against a strong Romania side," Petkovic said at a press conference.
"We saw them against France, they might have won the game so, above all, we really need to improve and I believe we have every chance of doing so."
Petkovic added: "We always want to achieve the maximum. With three [more] points and qualification, we want to do things correctly to write a great chapter in Swiss football history. Switzerland has never succeeded in winning two group matches [at the European Championship], so that would be a great performance if they were to succeed and would be something we could build on for the future."
Petkovic, however, warned against any complacency: "We have to up the tempo throughout the 90 minutes because we have seen that this Romania team can really threaten the opposition," he said.
"We have to continue to create chances and, if we do that, then not just one goal will come, but several. Above all, we have to show greater confidence because we came out of the first match with a victory. Now, we have to be even more demanding on ourselves to play well in this second game."
Romania coach Anghel Iordanescua admits he had to lift his squad after the bitter disappointment of not being able to hold on to what would have been a hard-earned draw on an emotional evening in Saint-Denis.
"After the France game, the first problem for our team was recuperation, both physical and psychological, but now we hope that we will be physically prepared for tomorrow's game," he said at a news conference.
"We have shown a very fluid game [against France] and created some chances but, at the end of the day, we had to admit the French players were better and got the three points. However, the atmosphere [within the camp] is positive, we are calm, are working and have to be concentrated because we are playing against a good quality team and this is a very important game for us."
