Wow. It has certainly been a while since my last post, eh?
There has been so much going on in the world of football since my last post those many months ago. would you have imagined back in September the events since? Chelsea paying £50 million for Torres to score one goal? Four Clasico matches in as many weeks? FC Luzern’s rise and fall from grace after leading the Super League? Of course, there were also the more predictable events such as Barcelona’s Champions League victory, Ibrahimovic’s eighth consecutive league-winners’ medal, and FC Basel’s capturing of the Super League. Significantly, my affections for Roma have finally worn off, and I chose to join my family and support AC Milan full-time for about 7 months now…a decision my family thought was inevitable, even years ago.

Incidentally, my last post was a match review in light of the previous encounter between Switzerland and England.

Since then, qualification to the UEFA Euro 2012 couldn’t look any more challenging for the Swiss. Before this afternoon’s match, Switzerland were in third place in their group, 6 points behind joint-leaders England and Montenegro, after four rounds. Not over yet, but not too great either.

A point of discussion however was also the announcement by veteran strikers Alex Frei and Marco Streller to call time on their international playing career. Where some believed it to reduce Switzerland’s already weak goal-scoring opportunities, many more believed that it was long overdue that the two Basel forwards, of whom came under critiscm following some below-par preformances for der Nati, pass on the mantle and allow younger players to carry on the Swiss cause.

Onto the match:

I referred to this match as Capello vs. Hitzfeld – undoubtedly two of the greatest managers ever.

Well, what a game it was. Clearly, Switzerland went into the match as under-dogs, but guess what, they opened a two-goal lead, courtesy of a pair of free-kicks by Leverkuesen’s Barnetta. It was a shame that England were able to pull back a goal so quickly after the second, and I guess we all knew that with just a goal in it, the English were destined to find that equalizer.

A few thoughts:

POSITIVES:
I thought that overall the Swiss played much better than England. Possesion was virtually even, 52-48 in favour of the English, but the Swiss were the ones to make most of it – clearly showing that our link up play has dramatically improved since the last time we played the Three Lions. Credit has to be given to the midfield, which has improved loads over the past couple of matches…with particular praise going to Barnetta and Inler.

Set pieces, of course, was also an area of improvement as both goals were scored by Barnetta – who missed the last encounter with England due to a fever.

Benaglio the goalkeeper, though suffering a bad season with Wolfsburg in Germany, seems to have regained his confidence in front of goal for der Nati as well, making some decisive saves and runs.

Another great thing to see was Senderos playing well after missing out on virtually all of last season due to injury – he provided great cover in the midst of…well…you’ll see…

CRITICISMS:
The defence and attack. Jeez.

Once again, our forwards lacked the final touch and shots. The midfield was superb. But once the necessary service was delivered to the forwards, once again they were absent. Is this down to the form of the players? Or is it due to Hitzfeld’s odd selection of forwards? Either way, if we stand a chance to qualify for the Euro, our strikers need to score.

Secondly…Djourou…(face-palm). What a horrid game. Giving away that penalty, and that border-line tackle early in the second half. I think the less said about it the better. Thank goodness that Senderos was on form for this one, or we could have really been in trouble.

OTHER POINTS:
Anyone else notice how the ref seemed to be in the way of Switzerland’s possesion? He seemed to constantly position himself in a way that made it awkward for the Swiss to pass the ball.

Certainly if we areto qualify for Euro 2012, this draw is certainly a step in the right direction. It’s a far-cry from the humiliation against England in September and that appaulling 0-0 draw vs. Bulgaria back in March. If the attack can somehow find confidence, we may just turn the results in our favour, and pull off a surprise…even for ourselves.

ONE LAST POINT:
I’d like to announce that I have started my own blog about all things Swiss including sports, history, culture.
I’d be very grateful if you guys could pay a visit

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!

Before we go on, let’s take a look at the goals:

Well, not too much to say here…

I actually think we played pretty alright before Stéphane Lichtsteiner got sent off for a second bookable offence…I can’t seem to find a highlights reel with that included. However, the decision by the referee was nonetheless WRONG. Lichtsteiner had in fact got the ball off the man first before James Milner came tumbling down like the Wall of Jericho. It is hard for me to defend Lichsteiner, seeing as how he plays his trade at Lazio – the sworn enemy of my team: AS ROMA.

Statistically speaking, going down a goal is better than getting a player sent off…but unfortunately we the Swiss had to experience both…in that order.

CRITICISMS OF THE SWISS:

Firstly, I thought Benaglio wasn’t even going to play in between the post for the Swiss, so you could imagine my surprise when I saw him playing. He may have earned 5 stars out of 5 for all his preformances during the World Cup (according the my articles at the time) but he preformed to a mere shadow of the ‘keeper we saw only 3 months ago.

Getting a defender sent off, however only confounded the Swiss as the English were able to thread through-balls far too frequently against the Swiss.

Once again Moreno Costanzo got left on the bench until the 80th minute. Herr Hitzfeld, if there is some way you are able to read this, please bring on the Young Boys striker a lot sooner into the game, he’s a great striker who’s got speed and skill. Don’t rely so heavily on Frei…we need to play with 2 strikers upfront because Switzerland cannot accompany a trequartista, becasue we don’t have one…so enough of this 4-4-1-1, and switch to a 4-3-1-2 if you really need to play with a fantastia, and that ought to be Hakan Yakin. but if not fit, try not to use one, because Derdiyok is a pure striker for us.

POSITIVES?

Well, we did break our goal-scoring duck with an excellent goal by Shaqiri, however, what the hell are our strikers doing? Once again a Swiss striker has failed to score, in fact, one year from tomorrow will mark the last occasion that a striker has actually scored a goal for the national side competitively…bringing me back to issue of Costanzo (scorer of the only goal during the friendly against Austria last month).

Moreover, we shouldn’t get too down on our luck, there’s still plenty of games left in order to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2012…included a reverse fixture against England…who knows, perhaps fortunes will change next time around.

As Shaqiri did for us last night, Switzerland will need to find goals in order to take part in the games of 2012.

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!

For those of you not yet up to speed, long story short: two British tabloid newspapers have reported that Wayne Rooney had allegedly visited a prostitute repeatedly during the time that his wife was pregnant. Much speculation then developed as to whether or not Rooney would travel to Switzerland or not in order to be with his family during this time. It has now been confirmed that rooney will indeed take part in the match against the Swiss in Basel, despite the allegations.

However, before I get on to talk about the football itself, there’s just a couple of things I want to get out there…

Look at the state of English football today. Perhaps the reaason why the national team does badly is because of the seemingly never-ending sex scandals we see surronding the lives of their players. John Terry, Ashley Cole and now Wayne Rooney have all hit the headlines for shameful activities…and their media at home isn’t helping much – clearly presenting psychological problems to the players.

ANYWAY, LET’S GET BACK TO TALKING FOOTBALL…

Clearly, having Rooney back in the squad presents a boost for the English, as Rooney was the heart of the English attack during the victory over Bulgaria only a few days ago. However, due to the scandal back home, questions have undoubtedly been raised as to whether or not the Manchester United striker can play without the reports effecting his game – something that Swiss national team coach Ottmar Hitzfeld believes will be a factor:

“I’m no psychologist but, of course, such a thing like that will weigh on a player.”

More on the English: The ‘Three Lions’ are srt to play without the services of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch for the qualifying match.

News from the Swiss-front:

Well, when you look at our list of missing players, and the form of some of the ones taking part, you can’t help but think that we may not be able to pull off something too spectaculor…

On the injury side of things, playmaker Hakan Yakin will be sitting this match out and Leverkusen winger Barnetta is also out.

Swiss no. 1 ‘keeper Diego Benaglio is also out of the match, on paternity leave. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Benaglio.

So, our formation ought to resemble something like this:

……………………….Wölfli…………………
Lichtsteiner…Grichting…V. Bergen…Ziegler
Padalino…Schwegler…Inler…D. Degen….
………………………..Derdiyok…………….
…………Frei…………………………………

PREDICTIONS:

An England team with their star player hit by scandal? A Swiss team who hasn’t won at home in six attempts? Both teams unconvincing in the World Cup? England with defensive worries? A Swiss team with an impotent strike force?
It seems to me that this will end up being a low-score draw…0-0 or 1-1 in my opinion. However, if one team were to win, I wouldn’t put my money on a repeat of the Spain – Switzerland match.

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HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!

As if having a team without Yakin was bad enough, are other staar-player withdraws.

Marco Padalino of Sampdoria has been called up instead.

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HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!

This puts him out of both matches against Australia (friendly match) and England (UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier).

FC Zürich’s Xavier Margairaz has been called up to replace the veteran Swiss international.

Frankly, I see this as a huge blow for Switzerland against England. Yakin posseses the creativity that the Swiss lack, which was very apparent during the World Cup. Every time that the Luzern captain was on, the Swiss team looked sharper in front of goal – threading passes, winning fouls and getting shots on goal.

The only consolation outt of this is knowing that the English will have to do without Frank Lampard…though I don’t exactly think that he’s a main protaganist for the English side (who looked woeful during the World Cup with their so-called ’super-stars’).

Hopefully Yakin will be back soon to help our nation’s hopes of Euro 2012 qualification.

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!

…and one club in particular seems to have seen a surge in call-ups:

Let’s have a look at the list:

GOALKEEPERS:

BENAGLIO, Diego (31 caps) [Wolfsburg]
VAILATI, Germano (0 caps) [FC Sankt Gallen]
WOELFLI, Marco (5 caps) [BSC Young Boys]

DEFENDERS:

ZIEGLER, Reto (16 caps) [UC Sampdoria]
GRICHTING, Stéphane (39 caps) [AJ Auxerre]
LICHTSTEINER, Stephan (32 caps) [SS Merda Lazio]
VON BERGEN, Steve (14 caps) [AC Cesena]
AFFOLTER, François (1 cap) [BSC young Boys]
SUTTER, Scott (0 caps) [BSC young Boys]

MIDFIELDERS and FORWARDS:

YAKIN, Hakan (84 caps) [FC Luzern]
FREI, Alex (77 caps) [FC Basel]
BARNETTA, Tranquillo (55 caps) [Bayer Leverkusen]
STRELLER, Marco (32 caps) [FC Basel]
INLER, Gökhan (40 caps) [Udinese Calcio]
COSTANZO, Moreno (1 cap) [BSC Young Boys]
DEGEN, David (10 caps) [BSC Young Boys]
SCHWEGLER, Pirmin (5 caps) [Eintracht Frankfurt]
BUNJAKU, Albert (5 caps) [FC Nürnberg]
DERDIYOK, Eren (25 caps) [Bayer Leverkusen]
FERNANDES, Gelson (28 caps) [St. Etienne]
SHAQIRI, Xherdan (5 caps) [FC Basel]

In total, we see the number of Young Boys players increase from just one during the last World Cup to five. I believe thaat this is due to the sudden hype that’s surronding Young Boys – yes, I’m talking about the Champions League Playoff match whereby the Bernese side were 3-2 up in the first leg against fancied English side Tottenham Hotspur(s)…winning 3-0 by the half-hour.

I guess this has caused Herr Hitzfeld to take notice of the players because it honestly takes something special for a team to play so convincingly well against a side like Tottenham…3-0 in 30mins. It takes something extraordinary, and don’t listen to all that bullshit of Harry Redknapp the Tottenham manager, claiming that the reason why his side played lousy was because of the artificial surface used at the Stade de Suisse. Wa wa wa…if your players are $h!t don’t blame the grass…or fake grass. The fact is that Tottenham were largely expected to play like they did in the 2nd leg, but because they thought that Young Boys would be pushovers they treated them with no respect, and deservedly loss in Bern. So even though Young Boys loss the reverse leg 4-0, I’m still happy to cheer them on (as a Luzern supporter) against other teams (that are not called AS Roma or FC Luzern) because of the bravery they put in.

So though the table of the Swiss Super League may not reflect the progress of Young Boys, the season has only just started. So, like Hitzfeld, I think it’s time we all let Young Boys enjoy their time in the Sun.

Incidentally, we have two new callups to the national side: ‘keeper Germano Vailati of Sankt Gallen and Scott Sutter of Young Boys, with the latter more likely to make any appearance over the two matches. Good luck to you both.

Other than that, this is our standard squad including the players central to how we operate as a team, the only major absentee being Philippe Senderos (out with injury).

Watch this space as we draw closer to the friendly and qualifiers!

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!

So, as we could clearly see from my last post, I highlighted Moreno Costanzo as a player I was dissappointed with being left out.

Turns out that Xavier Margairaz was injured before the match and would later be replaced by the Young Boys’ new signing.

…and guess who scored the winning goal?

Well, overall it wasn’t a night for the Austrians. After it seemed as though lady luck was on their side for a debateable penalty…

…it would be saved by Benaglio, and then Fuchs would hit the crossbar on the follow up.

Tough luck.

To sum up the evening, Costanzo scored a goal which really is the fault of their awful defending:

…what was the defender thinking?

Overall, I was pleased with the win…I mean, Austria ARE our rivals for many things – seeing as how we do share aa border line with them.

But! There is still work to be done if we are to push for qualification for UEFA Euro 2012.

At least we can build from here.

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!

Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg), Marco Woelfli (Young Boys).

Forwards: Eren Derdiyok (Bayer Leverkusen), Hakan Yakin (Lucerne), Albert Bunjaku (Nuremberg).

Firstly, I’d like to point out that a few changes have been made, as some players have picked up injuries:

Senderos will be replaced by MARIO EGGIMANN
Barnetta will be replaced by MARCO PADALINO
Dzemaili will be replaced by XAVIER MARGAIRAZ

At this point, I’d also like to remind those, not keeping up to date regularly with Swiss football that, since the end of the World Cup, three Swiss players have retiredd from the international stage:

Ludovic MAGNIN, Benjamin HUGGEL and Blaise NKUFO.

…now more on the actual team to play our long-time rivals, Austria.

Notably, we have call-ups for two debutants for the Swiss national side: Francois Affolter and Nassim Ben Khalifa. Congratulations.

Overall, we have a list comprising of few surprises, made up of players that went to South Africa, and players that I listed months ago that were serious contenders for places to the World Cup (if you’d like a little read of these articles, I listed possible goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards).

I guess the biggest omissions are that of Alex Frei (who has been enjoying a fine start to the Super League, scoring 4 goals in as many games for FC Basel), and Moreno Costanzo of Young Boys (who scored a cracking free-kick during the weekend).

Included in the selection is Luzern’s Hakan Yakin. I guess Hitzfeld realised his mistake in the World Cup for not playing veteran Yakin often enough – as we struggled to create scoring chances, but Switzerland played much better in all instances when Yakin was playing…and he’s even made a terrific start to the new Super League season:

PREDICTION:

Since that memorable World Cup quarter-final match in 1954 in Switzerland, whereby Austria defeated Switzerland 7-5, Swiss football has come a long way, and has enjoyed success since the new millenium – qualifying for the last two World Cup finals. Whereas Austria has been absent since the 1998 finals in France.

I suspect that Switzerland will run out winners in this contest – or at least not lose against our Alpine brothers.

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!

Here is the Swiss squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg), Marco Woelfli (Young Boys).

Forwards: Eren Derdiyok (Bayer Leverkusen), Hakan Yakin (Lucerne), Albert Bunjaku (Nuremberg).

More on the reaction tomorrow!!!

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!

But don’t forget to check back here when qualifying for the Euro 2012 begins, and for any friendly matches in between.

In the meantime, please visit our sister site, The Offside for all the lowdown on your favourite football team as the club season kicks in.

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!