Mission Accomplished: Switzerland – Liechtenstein 3-0

In the beautiful scenery of the new St. Gallen stadium, the AFG Arena, Switzerland played the last “friendly” act before the start of Kuhn’s toughest trial.

Alexander Frei scored his 35th goal in 59 official games, thus becoming the greatest scorer in Switzerland’s soccer history (Turkyilmaz held the previous record, that being 34).

A 3-0 score has many meanings: a second consecutive clean-sheet for Diego Benaglio, an Alexander Frei double and an excellent 5 goal tally in two games. Liechtenstein is by no means a dangerous team and Hans Peter Zaugg, their coach, had promised that his team would not be aggressive (thus to avoid further injuries) however two consecutive wins right before the European Championship are excellent for the team’s morale.

After hitting a crossbar at the 2nd minute and failing to defeat the goalkeeper Jehle on a one-on-one challenge, two assists by Streller and Magnin were sufficient to make Frei’s celebration a memorable one. Vonlanthen, who played in Barnetta’s stead (Tranquillo should be ready to astonish us all vs. the Czech Republic), scored the third goal at the 68th minute.

Switzerland – Liechtenstein 3-0 (2-0)

Liechtenstein: Jehle; Oehri (83rd Hasler), Gerster, Martin Stocklasa, Burgmeier; Rizberger, Polverino, Martin Büchel, Rohrer (65th Roger Beck); Fischer (65th Thomas Beck), Frick (83rd Büchel).

Köbi Kuhn: We were able to make use of the mistakes of our opponents to score. Against the Czechs we won’t be granted such chances. I have to say that not everything was perfect this evening. We weren’t patient enough but I’m sure we’re following the right path. Concerning Alexander Frei, I will onlt say one thing: he deserved to reach this record. He just got out of a difficult period because of his injuries. He never stopped fighting to get back to his standards.