Lugano held its final training session Wednesday morning in Cadro ahead of Thursday night's match (8:30 p.m.) in Geneva valid for the third round of the Championship Group. After a communal lunch at 2 p.m., the team boarded the bus to reach the city of Calvin.
STEFFEN AND NEVER INJURED
Not taking part in the trip, in addition to longtime injured Mahmoud Belhadj, will be Amir Saipi (who, after shoulder pain that prevented him from facing Basel, has been hit by a flu attack), Renato Steffen (left adductor problem) and Lukas Mai (hip injury).
VICTORY SOUGHT
Before the departure, coach Mattia Croci-Torti met with reporters. The first question dealt with any psychological dross after the traumatic second half of the match against Shaqiri and co. How do you intervene in such cases on the players' heads?
"It's simple, you show the mistakes we made but also the positive things we did. Given Sunday's results, we are still in the running for a European placement, so we need to click right away to try to go for a win in Geneva. The end of the season is not far away, we have three commitments in ten days and there is little time to think. We just have to work and put in all the resources and energy we have to try to win as many points as possible. In Geneva it has been a few years since we have been able to do what we want to do, back in the day Servette was one of our favorite opponents but lately they have been making us suffer. Hopefully we will be able to change the trend tomorrow and get a solid win."
MAINTAIN BALANCE
-A question that may seem brutal but is very direct. Do you feel like you can still get the most out of this group, and do you feel a little helpless?
"I think I'm still able to get the most out of it, it's a feeling I also have looking at the last two games and the right attitude with which the team entered the field. Then I know it's hard to get the message across that in life there can also be times when things don't go as we would like. But it is always too easy to make excuses and give up, I don't do that, I am always direct and honest with the guys. I analyze things clearly, we have feedback sometimes constructive sometimes less so, however we must never, ever forget the word I always quote and that is balance."
ALWAYS DID WELL IN TEN
"This year for example the only times we were down ten we did something sensational ourselves. I think of Partizan Belgrade, if Belhadj had not scored in the thirty minutes when we were outnumbered, we would not have gone all that European way. The same was said in the return match with Celje when in ten we still went and did something crazy. On the other hand, the two times when it was our turn to play with the extra man -in Geneva and on Saturday with Basel- we got it wrong. These are dynamics of control that did not go the way we wanted. Then it is clear that there are times when things do not go the way I and the team would like. They are like the relationships we all have outside of sports, we have to be able to understand why they are not working and not get complacent. A solution has to be found, sometimes soft sometimes by force, and that's what I always have to try to do."
STILL AN IMPPORTANT GOAL
-It's not that this group has given you the best it can give and now you need not say a revolution but substantial changes?
"I already stated in an interview a few weeks ago that so many dynamics will change next year anyway. But this often happens at the end of the championship. There are players whose contracts expire and who have other momentary thoughts. But that doesn't concern us now; it's my job to try to motivate everyone on the roster more because we still have an important goal."
IN BASEL VANISHED A DREAM
"Our mental meltdown came in Basel, that game hurt us because it took away a dream, there we lost a little something at the motivational level. When you have to change goals on the run the coach has to be even better at trying to motivate everyone to make it clear that although we now have two difficult away games and then YB at home, we have to give everything as early as tomorrow night against an opponent who maybe has even more mental problems than us. It's not always a given to be able to do what we've done in the last few years, to finish second or third, but we still have a chance to succeed, so we're going to try."
TOOK AWAY CERTAINTY FROM THE TEAM
-After Saturday's game with Basel you took full responsibility, then on "Sports Sunday" Saipi somewhat disavowed you by saying that the mistakes were made by the players on the field. Based on what does the coach choose the kind of dialectic to use, wouldn't it be more useful to confront the group with its responsibilities so that it has a certain kind of reaction? With what you said in the aftermath of the game, the player might feel protected and maybe not take the step forward that is expected....
"I am someone who studies a lot, I watch 1250 games, and I know perfectly well what teams that man-mark when they are down to ten do. We decided to play with an extra element in midfield and adopt in the second half the system that had given us the greatest satisfaction this year. With the 4-2-3-1, however, I took away certainties from the team with the ball. I know that the defensive mistakes we made were not my fault, but I have the knowledge that I took away from the team the calmness with the ball shown in the first half. On Saturday night I didn't come to the press conference to talk about my own gross mistakes as far as the defensive aspect was concerned, at the end there was a marking change since Shaqiri went to play in a more advanced position. But my regret is that I put the boys in trouble compared to the strength they found in Lucerne and in the first half in Basel. Sometimes the coach has to have the feelings, and the caution that has been with me in the last few weeks turned into perhaps too much courage because I wanted to go and win the game by trying to do something that I am convinced is in our chords, but at that moment I destabilized the team with the ball. That's what I regretted because before their three goals we always lost the ball: in short I took away confidence and comfort zone from my players. When you make a mistake like that it is also right to come here and say it. I'm not afraid of criticism, it's four years that I've been doing this job I've taken a lot of compliments and some criticism, you have to be able to understand the feeling that the team has for a choice that I made to win the three points. Then that there were also defensive errors over which the staff is not at fault is obvious but as I always say strong teams are those that correct mistakes and we did not do that."
FROM US ONLY PEOPLE WHO ARE HUNGRY
-The league is not over yet but have you already talked to the society and asked for some changes, to replace the departures or someone who mentally did not hold up as you would have expected?
"It is not an issue of who has held up or not. Soccer, like other sports, is made up of annual, two-year or three-year contracts. And when these come to an end, it is normal for people to start thinking about their future, to have less certainty and to be afraid of injury. These are dynamics that happen to FC Lugano but also to so many much more emblazoned clubs anywhere in the world. They are the consequences of the "Bosman Law," and we have to be good at putting people with sacred fire back in. Sebastian Pelzer and I have been discussing this not since yesterday but for four months, since he arrived. A place like Lugano, which does not have 40,000 spectators per game like Basel or Bern, needs people to come here like on a bridge to build something good in their careers. It should not just be a stepping stone, though: those who come must be hungry to play and happy to be part of this team. In recent years we have received many no's from people who could not find sufficient motivation, and we need instead convinced people, and it is with these that we will go and talk again in the coming days."
SOMEONE ARRIVED UNLOADED
-I echo this question. Those who are expiring are elements that, for various reasons and no one is offended, are somewhat marginal. Do you have a sense by contrast that the leaders still under contract are sufficiently motivated to continue to give their best in Lugano?
"I'm quite convinced of that as I'm sure it's not always so obvious to get to the end of a season like this without being a bit drained. They too now need to catch their breath, however, there is a last effort to be made. However, I am aware that those who will remain will have a desire to achieve something special next year as well since we came close this season as well. They will have a desire to make that next steep that this year -and we have to be honest- we failed to do. "
SWEPT AWAY IN 5′ BY A HURRICANE
-About the match against Servette and the following challenges with Lausanne and YB. Saturday's match with Basel showed that your team right now does not have the confidence and strength of a few months ago. Does this with respect to the upcoming matches make you think about some tricks, like limiting risks to bring home the maximum, maybe going against your game philosophy?
"It's not a matter of not asking too much of the boys but asking for something different as we did in Lucerne and in the first half in Basel. Then on Saturday, after the expulsion, something had to be decided: between courage and prudence I opted for the former. But in the end in an actual playing time of 4'37" we conceded three goals from the same player in three different circumstances. I think such a situation is exceptional and it is difficult to explain and react. Something happened that rarely happens and so it is not so much a matter of caution, confidence or strength: we took a slap, a shock, a hurricane came that in five minutes overwhelmed us. Shaqiri had that opportunity because we failed to handle the ball as we had done in the first half and as we know how to do. In that moment we gave the ball three times to the wrong person in a flow that we have had several times in the season and in which we are certainly not now. In the last three games what matters is the result, we have to be aware that we no longer have the positive flow, with some players not at 100 percent and it is right to adapt and play in a different way in order to win points."
I RELY ON OSIGWE'S EXPERIENCE
-I mention two names; Osigwe and Steffen. The latter will be missed in Geneva but even in 2025 he was often missed on the field, how do you explain his decline? As for Osigwe after the five goals he has conceded, does it worry you psychologically that he still has to be deployed given the flu that affected Saipi?
"Let's talk about the goalkeeper first. Sebastian has a certain amount of experience, but getting on the field only the last week of the season is not easy. Last year he had defended the U21 goal in many games and had some rhythm, this year he does not. So we also have to accept some possible mistakes. In the last game and a half he played the only note might be about the opportunity to play that ball to Zanotti, they are choices due to a desire to react and to take back the result right away. Otherwise we can talk about two "clean" performances by Osigwe. I am convinced that with his experience he can give us a hand in the next two games. With him and Pseftis we have two goalkeepers we can absolutely trust. "
STEFFEN'S MANAGEMENT
"On Steffen we have to be able to do an internal analysis with the player. We were able to have him a few times with the brilliance to which he had accustomed us. He had an injury after the first league game and with Basel he suffered another resentment. In my opinion he failed to be what he wanted as well, he is a player who has to be 100 percent well, he has a certain age. Next year we have to look together how we can get him to be at his best all the time. Was I wrong to deploy him too often? That may be so. Have I failed to get him to always be brilliant? It may be so. Could he have done something more? Maybe. For sure he is a player who never wants to give up, this must be acknowledged, it is his strength that led him to play several years in the Bundesliga and to wear the Red Swiss jersey about forty times. On a character level it will not be easy to make him understand that in the future he will have to manage himself better, he is someone who always wants to help the team. The relationship with the player has been very honest and sincere for three years now, When you need to say something to our faces do it or always."
END-OF-SEASON DYNAMICS
-On the end-of-season dynamics of departing players etc. is this something you perceive this year more strongly, is there a greater fragility and tension than in the past?
"I don't think I'm wrong in saying that last year at this point in the season the situation was worse. There was the Sabbatini affair to deal with, the year before that there was Daprelà and before that the departures of Maric, Custodio and Lavanchy. These are dynamics we are confronted with every year, and there is never an easier end of the season than others because all the players have a different weight in the economy of the team. These are normal situations that a coach has to be able to handle, and then there is one obvious thing: when things are going well, it is easier to handle everything than when the results don't come. But we are here to deal with difficulties. Sometimes we have to try to be even more honest and transparent, while knowing that these moments are inevitable. "
THE TEAM FIRST
"We have to find ways to make sure that we focus on collective goals and not on individual goals. In the end, I think the main task for me and for the various Cereda and Gianinazzi (to name three Ticino coaches) is to turn the individual's goals into team goals. The player always thinks for himself, about his future, how and where he would like to play on Sunday, it's up to me to remind them that we have collective goals that will always come first in the head of the coach and the club than individual ones."
WE HAVE TO DO OUR
-About collective goals, not everything in this season finale depends on you. You had the misfortune to face Basel when the championship was being played, and now, with the title won, the Rhineland team may have less incentive in the last three games against opponents with whom you play for European positions. What do you think about that?
"That we put ourselves in this situation. We lost to Basel and made them champions a day early, so we have to accept the situation and do our own on the fields where we are going to play. Yesterday everyone in Switzerland saw Zurich take the field in the first half against Winterthur without any starter, then in the second half changed the cards and turned the game upside down. The first 45′ at the Letzigrund were embarrassing on a sporting level. Then Zurich did the right thing and played the game to the end, showing seriousness and not facilitating the eventual relegation of the co-city team (the GC) to the Challenge League."
