After a 28-year dry spell, the Nati made it to the 1994 World Cup. The tournament in the USA was a completely new experience. This is particularly noticeable off the pitch.
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- With their first World Cup appearance in 28 years, the Swiss national team had a completely new experience in the USA in 1994. At the national team camp, there is occasional cabin fever - and tensions also arise between the team and coach Roy Hodgson.
- Hodgson wanted to shield the players completely from the public, and visits from the players' wives and families were also to be restricted.
- The players successfully defended themselves against this. Georges Bregy tells Legends Talk how they were able to convince their coach.
1:1 against the USA, 4:1 triumph against the Romanians. While the Swiss are impressing on the pitch and making history by reaching the last 16 of the World Cup, not everything is going so smoothly at the national team camp. At times, there is even camp fever - and tensions also arise between the team and coach Roy Hodgson. "There's always cabin fever when you're together as a team for so long," says Ciriaco Sforza.
Hodgson gets angry because some players lie by the pool for too long and turn up for training with a sunburn. "It was clear to me that we prepare well for every training session. But we had players who knew that 99 percent of the time they wouldn't get any minutes," Georges Bregy tells blue Sport's Legends Talk.
These players were not quite as serious about the game. "They came to training with a red head and sunburn. Roy had to put his foot down," recalls the 68-year-old "free-kick god".
Nati stars not allowed to leave hotel complex
The problem: the head coach himself is late for a training session because he is playing golf for too long with goalkeeping coach Mike Kelly. Some players can't understand it. Bregy: "Certain players were upset that we didn't start training until 4.15 pm instead of 4 pm." He himself couldn't quite understand the uproar, he says. "For me, it was a bit of a quibble. It doesn't matter whether I start training 10 minutes earlier or later. The important thing is to be focused on the whole thing. You could just feel that this was the first time we were at such a big tournament as the Swiss national team. Coaches also need to be able to switch off and recharge their batteries."
Hodgson introduced a few rules at the World Cup camp. For example, the players were not allowed to leave the hotel grounds without permission, even in their free time. The players reacted to this with varying degrees of understanding. Sforza: "As a player, you want as much freedom as possible, that's clear. But as a coach, you have a responsibility. You also have to know that we were in Detroit. Right from the start, the Americans told us that we shouldn't move around freely for security reasons."
The footballers show less understanding for another rule that Hodgson initially wants to enforce. The Nati stars should be shielded from the public eye and even visits from their wives or girlfriends should be kept to an absolute minimum. Being able to spend the night with their loved ones - impossible. Hodgson fears that the risk of distraction for Sutter, Bregy, Sforza & Co. is too great. There is talk of a sex ban in the Swiss camp.
Bregy: "It's not just about sex"
The players are against this. Bregy remembers. "We said that we were old enough to be able to decide for ourselves. I, for example, was already married at the time. Fortunately, we were able to assert ourselves and the women were allowed to visit us after the games."
How was Hodgson persuaded? "We were able to explain to Roy that it's also good to have other thoughts," says Bregy. "It's not just about sex, it's about the whole thing, about having a good time with your wife and family."
