Dull Swiss go down 3-1 against Germany

Keystone

The Swiss national football team put in a disappointing performance against Germany in a friendly on Wednesday night played in the German city of Düsseldorf.

The defeat – the third in a row after 2-1 losses against Brazil and Austria – does not augur well for the Euro 2008 championships to be hosted by Switzerland and Austria.

The team and the Swiss media in particular had high hopes of at least a draw but a lacklustre approach to the game by the Swiss team left the Germans free range to dictate the game for at least an hour.

Germany struck after only seven minutes when a header from Michael Ballack from a set piece on the right was tipped onto the cross bar by Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.

Kevin Kuryani dived to head in the rebound from close range.

The German striker also scored with a header when the two teams last met in June 2004, when the Swiss went down 2-0.

Germany took advantage of the poor Swiss showing to add goal number two in the 30th minute with a header from Mario Gomez after a cross from Clemens Fritz.

No threat

The Swiss for an hour showed no life, no imagination, no passion, took no risks and were as a result no threat.

Commentating live for Swiss German-language television, Beni Turnheer asked a simple question at the half time break: “What was that?”

There was little fire from the Swiss during the first 15 minutes of the second half, with four senior players substituted by trainer Köbi Kuhn to try to introduce some semblance of life.

Turnheer, a veteran of commentating Swiss national side matches, thought he’d hit the nail on the head when he said: “It can’t get any worse.”

But Germany proved him wrong when Torsten Frings scored from an angled free kick in the 66th minute for Germany’s third.

Poor communication

Switzerland saved a drubbing by pouncing on one of the few opportunities they had and it was largely the result of poor communication between German central defenders Per Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder.

Swiss striker Marco Streller used this indecision to steal the ball and go round German goalie Jens Lehmann for an easy goal.

“We were clearly beaten by a good German team,” commented trainer Kuhn after the match. “There is not much positive to say about our performance. We were shown our limits and it is clear there’s a lot of work ahead of us.”

His disappointment at the result was echoed by the final analysis from commentator Turnheer.

“There are games that inspire a live commentator and there are those like tonight.”

Wednesday proved a bad day for Swiss football. The Under 21 national team went down 4-0 in a test game against France in Nîmes.

The senior side now play friendly matches against Colombia on March 24, Jamaica on March 27 and the Netherlands in August.

swissinfo with agencies

Switzerland and Germany

Before Wednesday, the two sides had played no fewer than 48 times. The Germans are by far the more successful team having won 34 of the encounters. Switzerland has won only eight times, with six games ending in a draw.

The last time the two sides met was on June 2, 2004 when Germany beat Switzerland 2-0.

The last Swiss victory against Germany (3-1 in Frankfurt) dates back to November 21, 1956.

The Swiss squad contains a number of players who earn their living in the German Bundesliga: Alexander Frei and Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund), Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Christoph Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt), David Degen (Borussia Mönchengladbach), and Ludovic Magnin and Marco Streller (Stuttgart).

Key matches

April 5, 1908 in Basel: Switzerland beat Germany 5-3 in the first game for Germans after the creation of the German Football Association.

June 27, 1920 in Zurich: The Swiss 4-1 victory was the first game played by Germany after the Second World War.

December 19, 1990 in Stuttgart: Germany beat Switzerland 4-0 in the first game for the Germans after reunification.