Swiss Awards

July 2nd, 2010 | by: Adrian | Comments Off

As stated at the end of my last article, I promised to bring you, the reader, the awards for the Schwiizer Nati, based on their preformances during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

But first, a bit on the team as a whole:
Well, this year, we gott off to a cracker – defeating Spain, 1-0, for the first time in 19 attempts…however, the Spainsh victory masked the problems that we had before the World Cup even started – giving us all misconceptions to how well the Swiss would actually fare during this summer’s game. I had already in my interview with Daryl, I considered success to be to just get out of the group – but as soon as Fernandes scored that goal, all my rational went out the window, and I was swept by the euphoria of the Swiss victory.

However, the Chilean game did nothing for me to re-realise the faults of the Nati – the red card that was unfairly dished out to Valon Behrami, leaving the Swiss to play with 10 men for over an hour, meant that a Swiss victory was not going to be lucky – so the circumstance of the situation meant that we felt like we were robbed. Not until the abysmal display against Honduras did we all wake up to the harsh reality that we knew all too well before the tournament began.

But I’d like to thank the Nati, for representing our nation amongst the best in the World – claiming a major scalp against the tournament favourites, allowing us to hope – and fall in love with football all over again.

DANKE FüR ALLES!

…AND NOW, ON TO THE AWARDS:

BEST PLAYER:
Winner: Diego Benaglio

Going by the principals of ‘No Guts, No Glory’, Benaglio has been the personification of this. His displays in between the sticks have been sensational, earning him my vote for ‘Man-of-the-Match’ in all three of Switzerland’s group game matches, as well as Goal.com’s goalkeeper of the Group Stage. His saves were vital to the Swiss cause – adequetly keeping the defence up, meaning that all the outfield players needed to do was attack – which we didn’t. It was the Spain and Chile matches where he shone brightest. WELL DONE DIEGO!

Runner Up: Gökhan Inler
It was his vision that led to the goal against Spain. As our stand-in captain for the injured Alex Frei, he did a remarkable job organising the midfield. His touches were dangerous, and always looked threatening. Sadly, it was not meant to be.

BEST DEFENDER:
Winner: Stéphane Grichting

It was Senderos in 2006, and it’s Grichting in 2010 to be the outstanding rock in our defence. Like Benaglio, it was the display against Spain and Chile that earned him praise. Courageous tackles and giving 200% into every move just shows how much of a loss it has been to the Nati after he missed out on the last two major competitions due to injuries. When all seemed bleak, Grichting got in and made the difference on many occasions.

Runner Up: Stephan Lichtsteiner
Forrest Gump indeed. Made tireless runs up and down the right-flank and was a major source of our possesion. It was the effort, rather than outcome that earns him the accolade here.

BEST MIDFIELDER:
Winner: Gökhan Inler

I’ve pretty much already summed up why I thought Inler played well.

Runner Up: N/A
Looks like this one ought to go down to either Benjamin Huggel or Gelson Fernandes…yet neither really seem worthy of this award, after putting in, more often than not, medocre preformances.

Sadly, BEST FORWARD must be left out here, because…well, none of our forwards scored, so there really is no point in giving out the award.

BEST SUBSTITUTE:
Winner: Hakan Yakin

It’s fair to say that Hitzfeld got the tactics all wrong against Honduras. For the first 45 minutes, the Swiss looked impotent, and it looked like it was going to be a match where Switzerland would put in a woeful preformance. But, during the break, Yakin was introduced, and then Switzerland looked a lot better up front, with Yakin holding the ball, winning free kicks and making the right passes. Who knows if the Swiss would still be in the competition had Hitzfeld chosen to use Yakin in the starting XI? I sure think they would have at least advanced from the group.

Runner Up: Eren Derdiyok
Substitutes for the Swiss were pretty ineffective…but Derdiyok smashed the upright against Chile when we were 1-0 and 1 man down against Chile.

WORST PLAYER:
Winner or loser, rather: Valon Behrami

I won’t write too much here…but he was a starting player…injured for the first game…came for the second…got sent off after half an hour…suspended for the third…yeah…pretty ineffectual…

Runner-Up: Blaise N’Kufo
As a starter for all of Switzerland’s games, and top-scorer during qualification, his showings were dreadful…absolutely appaling…only Beharami’s red card outshone N’Kufo’s poor display…

BIGGEST DISSAPOINTMENT:
Winners: Tranquillo Barnetta and Blaise N’Kufo:

In both cases, both players came into the tournament with high hopes of preforming well, and both had played well leading up to the tournament…and both played miserably during the games.

Well that concludes our awards.

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!!!