Bitter cut

Salzburger dropped from Swiss European Championship squad!

Bryan Okoh (right)(Bild: GEPA pictures/David Geieregger)

The Swiss national soccer team has made its first cut from the European Championship squad! National coach Murat Yakin sent five players home, including defender Bryan Okoh from runners-up Salzburg. In addition, Ulisses Garcia (Marseille), Becir Omeragic (Montpellier), Aurèle Amenda and striker Joël Monteiro (both Young Boys) had to bury their European Championship dreams. The ÖFB team will face the Swiss on June 8 in the last test before the EURO in St. Gallen. 

For the quintet, the European Championship preparation camp in St. Gallen is over after four days. Monteiro and Okoh (21), who did not play a single competitive game for Salzburg last season, "performed well in training and will definitely be interesting players for us in the future", explained Yakin. Central defender Gregory Wüthrich (29) from champions Sturm Graz was not considered.

Special program for Embolo and Zakaria
Several key players will join the Swiss on Friday. In addition to captain Granit Xhaka, these include goalkeepers Yann Sommer and Yvon Mvogo, defenders Manuel Akanji and Ricardo Rodriguez as well as the midfield trio from Bologna with Remo Freuler, Michel Aebischer and Dan Ndoye. This means that 27 players will be in the squad from Friday, with Breel Embolo and Denis Zakaria completing a special program due to their injuries.

Gregor Kobel (with Dortmund in the Champions League final), Andi Zeqiri (with Genk in the European Cup play-off), ex-Salzburg player Noah Okafor (on a promotional tour with Milan) as well as Renato Steffen, Uran Bislimi and Albian Hajdari (all with Lugano in the Cup final) are not expected until next week. The definitive European Championship squad with a maximum of 26 players must be finalized by June 7.