Poor start cost us the game – Albania boss

ALBANIA coach Gianni de Biasi admits tournament debut nerves cost his side as they suffered a 1-0 defeat against Switzerland in their Group A opener.

A goalkeeping error from Etrit Berisha’s allowed Fabian Schar to head home the winner in only the fifth minute and the first-half sending-off of captain Lorik Cana only added to Albania’s problems.

However, the numerical disadvantage did not adversely affect Albania, who had a number of chances to equalise in a gutsy display.

“We needed a good start and that didn’t happen,” De Biasi said at his post-match press conference.

“The pressure got to us and for 20 minutes we were under par.

“It’s very difficult to really get across to the players beforehand the mindset and emotions – what it’s going to be like on this stage for the first time. It affected them a bit.

“For the goal there were a whole host of things that went wrong, complete with a defender slipping over.

“By about the 20th minute we were back to normal, but the damage was done.

“Once you concede it is that much more difficult. The key moments were the goal, the red card – unfortunately it was a very fair sending-off – and three big misses, most prominently the last one for (Shkelzen) Gashi.

“We didn’t really have the luck today.”

Switzerland boss Vladimir Petkovic was disappointed his side did not make the result secure once Albania went down to 10 men.

“We handled the emotion of the occasion better,” he said. “We used the nervous energy very positively.

“I think we played a lot better in the first 20 minutes than we did thereafter. At first we were dictating the tempo, after that we allowed them to come on to us a bit, we slowed down too much.

“That happened even when Albania went down to 10 men, though we did miss a lot of opportunities.

“We needed to kill the game off but this isn’t all down to our forwards.

“Our defenders and midfielders can contribute in the attacking third, as Schar did with the goal.

“Our aim from the start has been to get through inside two group games. It remains so.”