Swiss lick wounds after Euro 2012 flop

Down and out: Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok slumps to the ground after the defeat to Wales Keystone

Despite Switzerland’s failure to qualify for the 2012 European Football Championship, observers have been putting a positive spin on events and looking to the future.

In what should have been a crucial deciding match for second place in Group G, Switzerland’s young team will complete their Euro 2012 qualifying on Tuesday in a meaningless friendly against a Montenegro team which pipped them to the post last week.

The Swiss had hoped to set up a match for the second place in Basel, but they lost 2-0 in Wales last Friday as Montenegro drew 2-2 with England, the group winners.

Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said it was a very bitter blow.

“It was a shock that the team now has to bear,”  Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld told the SonntagsBlick newspaper. “It is very important that the group now shows solidarity. We are taking a new departure. The coming days will be very important; we cannot disappoint our fans in Basel on Tuesday.”

The Swiss press has been trying to come to terms with last week’s defeat.

“The Welsh dragon swallowed Hitzfeld’s Switzerland,” wrote the German-language tabloid newspaper Blick. “Rather than a major showdown, Tuesday’s match against Montenegro will be like a last dance.”

Licking wounds

Switzerland were solid favourites with the bookmakers going into the match against the Welsh, who they beat 4-1 at home in their last match.

“The hour of disillusion; the era of promises,” an article in Monday’s French-language Le Temps newspaper declared. “The final on October 11 should have given colour to the autumn of Swiss football, opened the dream gates for a promising generation. But no, none of that, just wounds to be licked.”

Switzerland will therefore miss their first major football tournament since the 2002 World Cup.

“The fact we failed is not such a big disaster for a footballing nation like Switzerland,  but to go out in such a weak group is the biggest wash-out of the Hitzfeld era,” wrote Blick.

The Swiss campaign never fully recovered from losing 1-0 in Montenegro one year ago, though hope flickered last month when teenage forward Xherdan Shaqiri scored a hat trick to help beat Bulgaria.

“Our team is young. They must learn from these failures,” Hitzfeld said after the loss in Wales.

Hitzfeld used the Euro 2012 campaign to promote several players from Switzerland’s successful Under-21 team, including the FC Basel attacking trio of Shaqiri, Fabian Frei and Granit Xhaka.

Hope for future

Despite the doom and gloom, some observers see the upheaval as an opportunity for the future.

“It’s a question of looking to the future to forget the past. A short year to continue working on the eternal building site of Swiss football, to fine tune the talents of individuals and build team spirit. In the end it won’t be that long,” wrote Le Temps.

After the Euro 2012 qualifiers Switzerland have two friendlies planned: in Amsterdam against The Netherlands on November 11 and Argentina on February 29, 2012 in Bern.

Serious football only begins in September 2012 with the start of Europe’s 2014 World Cup qualifying group campaign. Switzerland are pitted against Norway, Slovenia, Albania, Cyprus and Iceland.

“We have 11 months in which to progress,” said Hitzfeld, who will plot the Swiss path to Brazil after getting a two-year contract extension.

“Only playing friendly matches is not a problem in my mind. Players should not make a difference between a match that counts and a friendly. Once again I will demand extreme concentration.”

Stable squad

For Tuesday night Hitzfeld is expected to select almost the same side as the one that lost to Wales. Among the changes Arsenal central defender Johan Djourou is due to play alongside Ricardo Rodriguez who will stand in for Reto Ziegler.

The Swiss coach says he has a number of options to lead the attack, including Admir Mehmedi and Eren Derdiyok.

“Behind him Nassim Ben Khalifa, who has already played with us and Mario Gavranovic, who is a very interesting player, and Haris Seferovic has a real goal-scoring instinct,” said Hitzfeld.

But he admitted that Switzerland does not have a huge reservoir of players at his disposal.

“In one year we have lost six or seven players. It’s obvious that Alex Frei and Marco Streller’s [retirements] have left a hole,” he said.

But his greatest regret is the fragility of defender Philippe Senderos, who missed last year’s games against England and Montenegro. The Fulham player had to pull out of the Wales game at the last minute.

“I had to make too many changes to defence,” the coach said with regret. “ We haven’t really been able to work on any moves that could become automatic reflexes. I hope we will become more stable in the future.”

Djourou agreed that stability was essential: “The Swiss team have huge potential, it’s true. But they are in a reconstruction phase. They need to work with the same players and evolve using the same system. That’s the key to success in football.”

Group G

Current Group G standing (matches played/wins/ draws/losses/goals for-against):

1. England 8 5 3 0 17 5

18 

2. Montenegro 7 3 3 1 7 5

12

3. Switzerland 7 2 2 3 10 10

8

4. Wales 7 2 0 5 5 10

6

5. Bulgaria 7 1 2 4 3 12

5

(with input from Christian Raaflaub)