Stretched Swiss outclassed by Germans

Keystone

Switzerland have lost 4-0 against Germany in a friendly match – and the 50th meeting of the two sides – ahead of June's European football championship.

Wednesday’s defeat at the St Jakob stadium in Basel, which will host the opening game of Euro 2008 on June 7, was the Swiss side’s seventh in 12 games and its fourth in a row.

The Germans, currently fifth in Fifa’s world rankings, were returning to the venue of their first international game 100 years ago and put 40th-ranked Switzerland under immediate pressure.

Nevertheless the hosts were the first to get the ball in the net. Switzerland’s top scorer Alexander Frei, returning from a year out because of injury, beat German keeper Jens Lehmann in the 14th minute but the Borussia Dortmund striker was correctly judged offside.

Nine minutes later Swiss fans’ hearts sank again when Bayern Munich striker Miroslav Klose tapped the ball into the net at the other end after Swiss keeper Diego Benaglio fumbled a cross.

The first half ended with a wasted free kick for the Swiss.

Fifteen minutes into the second half the Swiss gave away possession in the centre circle and were punished by Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez, who coolly slotted the ball past a blameless Benaglio.

After that, German confidence and pressure increased and a porous Swiss defence, depleted by injuries, conceded its third goal in the 67th minute. Gomez picked up a perfectly timed through-ball from Lukas Podolski and once again outwitted Benaglio.

Podolski ended a miserable night for Switzerland in the 89th minute, again exploiting defensive frailties to score Germany’s fourth.

Injury time

Both teams had injury issues going into the match, but Swiss manager Köbi Kuhn had the worst of it, with most of his problems concerning his back line.

Stuttgart defender Ludovic Magnin injured his ankle on Saturday, Arsenal defender Johan Djourou was struggling with a persistent groin problem and Borussia Dortmund full-back Philipp Degen recently underwent his third ankle operation this season.

Switzerland were also without Marco Streller, Xavier Margairaz and Patrick Müller, all injured. Blerim Dzemaili had recovered from a knee ligament injury but was playing for the under-21s on Wednesday to regain match fitness.

“You always expect injuries in sport, but this number of injuries is ridiculous,” lamented Kuhn last month.

But after the match on Wednesday, Kuhn admitted that his team had been beaten by the better side.

“We hadn’t imagine it would end like that,” he said. “We were inferior in virtually every aspect. Having said that, we helped them enormously. We made unnecessary individual mistakes and basically looked pretty amateur out there.”

Former Swiss player and manager Umberto Barberis spoke to swissinfo at the match and had no problem pinpointing Switzerland’s problem.

“The Swiss defence completely fell apart,” he said. “They gave away too many balls and lost too many tackles. At this level, if you give your opponent too many presents, things go downhill rapidly.”

Barberis is one of three Swiss celebrities blogging for swissinfo between now and the Euro 2008 final in June. Make sure you check out swissinfo’s special Euro 2008 dossier for all the latest news and views.

Rematch in Vienna?

Switzerland, who qualified automatically for Euro 2008 as co-hosts with Austria, have now lost four consecutive friendlies, going down previously 2-1 to England, who failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

On the whole, the side has failed to rediscover the kind of form it demonstrated during the World Cup in Germany in 2006. Apart from games against Argentina and the Netherlands, most performances have disappointed, with the Swiss forwards in particular failing to look threatening.

Switzerland have two more friendly games before Euro 08: Slovakia on May 24 and Liechtenstein on May 30.

The three other teams in Switzerland’s qualifying group also played on Wednesday: Portugal lost 1-2 to Greece, the Czech Republic drew 1-1 with Denmark and Turkey drew 2-2 with Belarus.

And the next chance the Swiss have of beating the Germans? If Germany win their Euro 2008 qualifying group as expected, and if Switzerland come second in theirs, which could be tough, the two teams will meet in the quarterfinals in Vienna on June 20.

swissinfo, in the St Jakob stadium in Basel

Euro 2008

Co-hosts Switzerland and Austria have qualified automatically for the Euro 2008 tournament, which takes place in June 2008.

15 of the 31 Euro 2008 matches will be played in Switzerland, including the opening match in Basel on June 7.

Austria hosts 16 games and stages the final in Vienna on June 29.

The Swiss team will face Portugal, Turkey and the Czech Republic during the group phase of the tournament.

Switzerland and Germany

Germany played its first international in Basel on April 5, 1908 and lost 5-3 to the Swiss. But since then, the Germans have dominated their neighbours, losing only eight and drawing six of the 50 games.

The last time Germany lost to Switzerland was 52 years ago when the game ended 3-1. Germany has never played more often against another nation, and Switzerland was the team that was Germany’s first opponent after both world wars.

Other key matches between Switzerland and Germany:
June 27, 1920 at Zurich: Switzerland was the first team to play Germany after the First World War, winning 4-1.

November 22, 1950 at Stuttgart: Germany ran out 1-0 winners in their first international game after the Second World War.

December 19, 1990 at Stuttgart: a 4-0 scoreline to a united German side playing their first international game since reunification.

Teams

Switzerland: Benaglio; Lichtsteiner, Eggimann, Senderos (75. Bergen), Spycher; Behrami (58. Gygax), Inler, Fernandes (87. Huggel); Barnetta (80. Vonlanthen); Derdiyok (46. Nkufo), Frei (83. Yakin).

Germany: Lehmann; Lahm (87. Trochowski), Mertesacker, Westermann, Jansen (79. Rolfes); Fritz (Friedrich), Ballack, Hitzlsperger, Schweinsteiger; Gomez (75. Kuranyi), Klose (58. Podolski).

Goals: 23. Klose 0:1. 61. Gomez 0:2. 67. Gomez 0:3. 89. Podolski 0:4.

Attendance: 38,500