Swiss lose 1-0 to the Czech Republic

Reuters

Switzerland have been beaten 1-0 by the Czech Republic in the opening game of Euro 2008 at the St Jacob's Park Stadium in Basel.

A goal by Vaclav Sverkos in the 70th minute and a serious injury to Swiss captain Alex Frei ruined the night for the tournament co-hosts.

Sverkos, making only his fourth appearance for the national team, scored from 16 metres with the outside of his right foot shortly after coming on as a substitute. He ran onto Tomas Galasek’s header after beating the offside trap and made no mistake with a cool finish to the left of Switzerland goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.

His goal saved the Czech Republic from an otherwise poor performance that included long stretches of Swiss control.

Switzerland missed a chance to equalise in the 80th minute. Tranquillo Barnetta’s low shot was stopped by Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech after Tomas Ujfalusi appeared to handle the ball in the area. Johan Vonlanthen got the loose ball but his shot hit the crossbar and the ball was cleared.

“I actually jumped against the ball and the ball hit my hand,” Ujfalusi said. “I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Before the late drama there had been few clear-cut scoring chances, with the youthful Swiss lacking a cutting edge in front of goal and the experienced Czechs happy to soak up pressure and look for chances on the counterattack.

“Switzerland played well – very well in fact as they created five clear chances to score,” former international player and coach Umberto Barberis told swissinfo. “The difference was the level of efficiency because the Czechs only needed one real chance to score.”

Barberis, a consultant for swissinfo during Euro 2008, said the substitutions also played a central role in the match.

“[Czech coach Karel] Brückner dared to take off his star striker, the giant Koller, and bring on Sverkos … who scored. Köbi Kuhn put his faith in Yakin and Vonlanthen and both had shots … but didn’t score.”

Defensive start

Perhaps it was an ominous sign that Switzerland had not played a competitive match in two years, since being eliminated by Ukraine in the second round of the World Cup in Germany on penalty kicks after two hours of scoreless play.

But the Czech Republic, known in previous tournaments for attacking football, also started defensively, with five in the midfield and record scorer Jan Koller up front.

A defensive mistake led to Switzerland’s first chance. Frei stole the ball off Jan Polak in midfield and the Swiss record holder with 35 international goals played a quick one-two with strike partner Marco Streller, but shot wide from 20 metres.

Switzerland continued to push forward with its youthful midfield – all of whom are under the age of 24 – mostly through Valon Behrami down the right and Gökhan Inler up the middle.

The Czech Republic had no clear scoring chances in the first half. They forced one save from the Swiss goalkeeper in the 14th minute, after defender Zdenek Grygera’s heel pass sent David Jarolim into space on the right. Jarolim’s cross was deflected by a head on its way to goal, but Benaglio parried it to safety.

In the 21st minute, Switzerland had its first good opportunity. Benaglio’s long clearance reached Frei after evading the entire Czech Republic defence, but Cech rushed out of his goal to make a strong save with his feet.

Frei had another shot saved by the Chelsea goalkeeper in the 36th minute, after Tomas Galasek needlessly gave the ball away to Barnetta. Cech could only send the shot in the direction of Streller, but the striker was whistled for offside.

Frei injury

But shortly before the break, Frei was fouled by Grygera and was sobbing when he left the field. He later walked to the dressing room and was replaced at the start of the second half by Hakan Yakin.

“It’s a disaster, of course, to lose our captain in the first game the way we did,” said Swiss coach Köbi Kuhn.

Yakin and Czech defender Marek Jankulovski both shot over from free kicks. Another ball from Jankulovski just missed the head of midfielder Libor Sionko, when just a touch might have been a goal.

Then, Yakin missed an opportunity in the 66th minute when a cross from Behrami found him unmarked 12 metres out. With the entire goal to aim at, he pushed his header two metres wide and then held his head in his hands.

The two other teams in Switzerland’s qualifying group, Portugal and Turkey, are currently playing each other in Geneva.

Switzerland’s next match is against Turkey on Wednesday.

swissinfo with agencies

In brief

Switzerland: Diego Benaglio, Stephan Lichtsteiner (Johan Vonlanthen, 75), Patrick Müller, Philippe Senderos, Ludovic Magnin, Valon Behrami (Eren Derdiyok, 84), Gökhan Inler, Gelson Fernandes, Tranquillo Barnetta, Alexander Frei (Hakan Yakin, 46), Marco Streller.

Czech Republic: Petr Cech, Zdenek Grygera, David Rozehnal, Tomas Ujfalusi, Marek Jankulovski, Libor Sionko (Stanislav Vlcek, 83), David Jarolim (Radoslav Kovac, 87), Tomas Galasek, Jan Polak, Jaroslav Plasil, Jan Koller (Vaclav Sverkos, 56).

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

Crowd at St Jacob’s Park, Basel: 40,000

Euro 2008

Switzerland is co-hosting the Euro 2008 football tournament with Austria from June 7-29.

The two countries were chosen to host the third-biggest sporting event in the world – and the biggest in Swiss history – on December 12, 2002.

The 31 games will be played in four cities in Switzerland (Basel, Bern, Geneva and Zurich) and four cities in Austria (Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna). The final will be held in Vienna on June 29. Switzerland will play its three group matches in Basel.

The finals will be broadcast in 170 countries and are expected to be watched by about eight billion cumulative TV viewers.