Epic Switzerland holds against Dutch comeback

For the first time in many years the Swiss team has defeated a top-flight team (14 years ago Italy was the sacrificial victim in the run towards World Cup 1994) . Despite the absence of Frei, Djourou, Muller, Gygax, Dzemaili and Behrami the young Swiss team stood their ground and held on to a memorable result.

Winning their spurs in front of 24,000 roaring fans (of which 1,000 dutchmen) the likes of Gelson Fernandes, Blaise N’Kufo, Gokhan Inler and Steve von Bergen proved that their vivacity and eagerness could grant them the red shirt.

The Swiss played with the following team:
Coltorti; Philipp Degen (69th Lichtsteiner), von Bergen, Senderos (87th Cabanas), Magnin; Vonlanthen, Fernandes (67th Huggel), Inler, Barnetta (74th Spycher); Margairaz (81th Yakin); Nkufo (56th Streller).

The most important aspects of this team were the presence of Coltorti, von Bergen, Fernandes, Inler and N’Kufo. Kuhn’s hardest decision is the goalkeeper choice. Zuberbuehler seems to have reached the end of his international career (despite the record-breaking clean sheet in Germany 2006) and we do not have a plethora of promising goalkeepers at home. Kuhn gave Coltorti a chance, despite the latter’s awful mistake in a Super League game, and might turn to Benaglio in the following match. von Bergen showed that the absence of Djourou and Muller isn’t that dramatic as one could fear. Fernandes, who isn’t playing regularly in Bolton, and Inler showed good spirit and excellent teamwork. But N’Kufo was definitely the best news of the evening.
Our top choices are limited to Frei, Vonlanthen and Streller (with Regazzoni, Lustrinelli and D.Degen other remoter options). N’Kufo, after the 5-year absence, wasn’t at loss upfront and came close to scoring at least once. His knowledge of Dutch football, combined with Frei’s knowledge of German football might give Switzerland just the experience they need. If one considers that most of the players on the pitch yesterday were below 24 the presence of some older players is important at international level.

Barnetta was the star player of the game. He scored the opening with an important penalty at the 9th minute which might have taken away the penalty-miss phobia which was decisive in the game against Ukraine.
After that Switzerland had no trouble containing the Dutch assaults – the first true chance came in the last third of the first half with Sneijder and van der Vaart.

The second half followed the same plot with the Netherlands pressing forward and the Swiss containing the assault. Yet at the 51st minute Barnetta struck again, right under the crossbar where Stekelenburg was helpless – a stunning goal by a player who had lost the magic touch that had made him a star at the World Cup. Yet euphoria must not take over concentration – and that’s exactly what happened – an excellent run by Babel ended with a Kuijt header in the back of the net. The Netherlands pressed forward for a draw but the Swiss stood their ground to obtain a rare and famous win.

On one hand we know that these friendlies matter more to Switzerland than its opponents – Kuhn only gets these chances to build the team that will strive for European glory in 2008. But Switzerland was truly exciting, a promising team with a bright future. If Kuhn can find the solution to unite the likes of Gelson and Inler with the experience of Frei, Muller or N’Kufo perhaps we do have a winning team. The next games will certainly give us the answers we need, such as seeing how the N’Kufo-Frei attack can work.

Interviews:
Kuhn: “Finally a win against one of the great nations of football. After the excellent game against Argentina, we’ve obtained the result we were hoping for against the Netherlands. Such a start to the season is truly positive. Barnetta, Inler and Fernandes played an excellent game”.