Switzerland

MMPE: Most Miserable Post Ever, Switzerland – Luxembourg 1-2

Video with Luxembourg Goals

It took me some time to finally settle in front of the screen and painstakingly type the words that come to my mind after yesterday’s nightmarish game.
Following the 2-2 draw to Israel, hopes were high to claim the three points – without any shade of arrogance, a result other than a victory never crossed my mind.
Now it’s quite painful to wake up and realize that it’s all true: Switzerland did lose to Luxembourg.

There is a sense of shock all over the country (at least concerning those who enjoy watching this wacky game called football) while we try to realize that we just lost to the 152nd team in the World Rankings. This is Luxembourg’s first win in a World Cup Qualifier – well I have nothing against them, but I would rather have them enjoy this exploit against another opponent.

Truth is that they did deserve the points – Switzerland was awful yesterday, the absence of Lichtsteiner didn’t give necessary input to the attacking game, Magnin had more downs and ups playing like a confused defender in search of bearings, Benaglio was nowhere near the two goals making a terrible positioning mistake on Luxembourg’s opening goal, Inler and Barnetta were nonexistent.
How can one justify such a tragic crash in such an important game? It is true, it’s early in the season and there’s a new coach but despite these ubiquitous factors (see France and Italy’s games for example) there was a huge quality difference between the two teams – I mean we should have taken all three points even playing awfully as we did yesterday.
Yet chances are that every once in a while luck doesn’t go your way, the opponents compensate for their lack of skills with great hearts and excellent tactical choices and you end up losing against a team that includes only two professional players.
Hence, a great day in Luxembourg’s football history, the darkest day in Switzerland’s.
Since a home defeat to Azerbaijan 10 years ago we had never conceded such humiliating defeats yet one can always expect it to be around the corner.
What the team lacked yesterday other than the reasons I provided above was patience and knowledge (with no arrogance) of technical superiority – the anxiety, especially among the young players, of playing on a 1-1 score with such opposition while the second half was slowly ending brought upon that dreadful defensive mistake that led to Luxembourg’s advantage.
A real shock – thousands of angry fans showing their disgust at such a miserable performance, some players on the turf looking around as if they had come from another planet: the general disbelief at what had happened while a little group of loud Letzenburgers were shouting like mad, failing to understand how such a result could have been possible.

This is a turning point in Switzerland’s football history – it might have a positive outcome. The anger, the fact that they owe something to the Swiss fans, the full return of Frei and Derdiyok and perhaps the awakening of some players who are unrecognizable at the moment (Barnetta, Benaglio, Magnin above all) might lead us to completely change the current situation and struggle for full points in the next two games: Latvia at home and Greece away.
Current standings see Greece on 6 points, Israel on 4, Latvia and Luxembourg on 3, Switzerland on 1, Moldova on 0.
I do not want to fall into optimism so I believe that the first place is pretty much gone but if we defeat Israel at home and win at least one of the two games against Greece I think that the quality of the Swiss players compared to that of the Israeli players doesn’t make a second place sound like a utopia. Unfortunately the playoffs will certainly reserve a nasty surprise but the team has to concentrate on this now: 3 points against Latvia, 3 points against Greece – if this is done, then we’re back in the game. If we make less than 4 points, we’re out of it, for sure. We can only hope that Luxembourg will repeat yesterday’s feat in other games so as to balance the situation.

Frei sees this as the “worst defeat in my international career”, Magnin admits “I was a nothing!” and Hitzfeld speaks of “an impossibility of finding cohesion in the team, a psychological problem”.
I must admit, like FC Zurich defender Alain Rochat stated on the french-speaking Swiss news, that I can’t understand how this happened. Of course, the game against Israel wasn’t memorable but we played a good first half creating opportunities – what happened yesterday night? Why did team suffer such a downfall? Hitzfeld states that he accept criticisms in his regards and I certainly criticize the fact that he kept Lichsteiner out of the game and then I did not understand the changes: Yakin out for Abdi? Frei out for Lustrinelli?
Hakan Yakin had provided N’Kufo with an excellent assist and seemed to be the only one who could build on Switzerland’s attacking game; Frei isn’t certainly at his best but against an amateur defence like Luxembourg he could have been very dangerous.
Perhaps Hitzfeld thought that the enthusiasm of the young ones, Abdi, Nef and Stocker would have brought some cohesion to the team and a new desire to go and grab the 3 points but what frightens us Swiss fans is that there was no spirit to yesterday’s team, no desire “to win it”.
A ghost-team struggling against a team who player with heart and deservedly got the three points.

Switzerland – Luxembourg 1-2 (1-1)
28′Strasser 0-1, 43′Nkufo 1-1, 86′A.Leweck 1-2.
Switzerland: Benaglio; Nef (73′Vonlanthen), Djourou, Grichting, Magnin; Barnetta, Inler, Yakin (65′Abdi), Stocker; Nkufo, Frei (65′Lustrinelli).
Luxembourg: Joubert; Mutsch, Hoffmann, Strasser, Kintziger; Lang (45′A.Leweck), Payal, Peters, Bettmer, Lombardelli (75′Gerson); Kitenge (66′Joachim).
Referee: Filipovic/SRB
Zurich: 20′500 spectators