Switzerland v Czech Republic - Euro 2008

Captaining his country for this game was Alexander Frei, a dangerous forward player with an excellent eye for goal. Frei is 28 and currently plays his club football for Borussia Dortmund in Germany where he has been now since 2006. Frei will be taking no further part in Euro 2008 as a result of injury in this game.

Fielded in the game were the following eleven players for Switzerland:

Benaglio
Lichtsteiner, Muller, Senderos, Magnin
Behrami, Inler, Gelson, Barnetta
Frei, Streller

Twelve substitutes were named for Switzerland, the substitutes were as follows: Vonlanthen, Zuberbuhler, Jakupovic, Djourou, Huggel, Derdiyok, Cabanas, Grichting, Gygax, Spycher, Degen, Yakin.

Three of the twelve named substitutes were used in the game, the first substitution to be implemented was that of Yakin as a half-time replacement for the injured Frei, next on was Vonlanthen in the 75th minute for Lichtsteiner and lastly Derdiyok replaced Behrami in the 83rd minute.

Going into this game it was Tomas Ujfalusi that was named as captain, were he fit then Tomas Rosicky would be the man with the captains armband but this is sadly not so for Euro 2008. Ujfalusi currently plays his club football for Athletico Madrid.

Fielded in the game were the following eleven players for the Czech Republic:

Cech
Jankulovski, Rozehnal, Ujfalusi, Grygera
Plasil, Polak, Galasek, Jarolim
Sionko, Koller

Twelve substitutes were named for the Czech Republic, the substitutes were as follows: Blazek, Zitka, Fenin, Pospech, Kadlec, Baros, Matejovsky, Sivok, Skacel, Kovac, Vlcek, Sverkos.

All three available substitutes were used, the chosen three were Kovac, Vlcek, and Sverkos. All the Czech Republic substitutions came quite late in the game; Koller was the first to be replaced on 56 minutes by Sverkos, the next subsistue was not used until the 83rd minute however when Sionko was replaced by Vlcek, and then the third substitution came three minutes from the end when Kovac came on for Jarolim.

The first game in the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament was always going to come as a bit of a disappointment, it was a huge anti-climax but then again the big game of the day was always going to be Portugal versus Turkey. Switzerland are no great side, they gained automatic qualification for the tournament for being a host nation, they did have the added advantage of having the home crowd behind them for this one but never did they really pose any real threat to the Czech Republic team.

The game was played in Basel, the city borders Germany and France but never did the home crowd really get behind the Switzerland squad. The best chance of the game for Switzerland fell to Frei, it forced a strong save out of Petr Cech but other than this the chances of Switzerland scoring were few and far between. When Frei had to leave the field injured on the stroke of half time it seemed as though it was all over for Switzerland and indeed it was. Frei is the Switzerland captain, after getting injured he cried however and it quickly became obvious that his part in the tournament was over.

The Czech Republic has performed well as a footballing nation in recent European Championships; in Euro 1996 the team came second to bitter rivals Germany, whilst in Euro 2004 the team reached the Semi-Finals. Sadly the Czech Republic now lacks the footballing flair of the past few tournaments and having watched this opening game I must say that the strength of the side seems to be more than a little lacking. Switzerland were weak but so too were the Czech Republic in this game, they deserved their 1-0 win I feel but only just.

The game was quite even on the whole, it was quite an interesting one when Sverkos came on to replace Koller as a substitute but when he scored in the 70th minute he certainly proved his worth as the substitute striker. Koller is the Czech Republic's top scorer, he wasn't on form in this game however and in truth it was little of a surprise when the man was substituted. Koller can be explosive sometimes, no one was in this game though and other than the Sverkos goal little else went on. Even the goal was fortunate I feel, it was well taken but from the way it came off Sverkos boot it did seem to be a bit of a miss-hit.

Vonlanthen should have equalised late on for Switzerland, he was given an opportunity where it would have been easier to score than miss but still he managed to smash it against the crossbar. This chance came about after another shot was saved by Cech and parried into his path, all he had to keep the ball low and put it past the two defenders that were standing on the line but the ball ballooned against the crossbar and Vonlanthen was left very much a disappointed man. Switzerland could also have had two penalties, they certainly had shouts for them anyway; two cases of handball and at least one should definitely have been given. It was not to be Switzerland's day, they lost but certainly didn't make a shame of themselves.

Switzerland were a little unfortunate not to have at least gained a point in this opening game, they were given the opportunity to save face with a draw but still they managed to mess it up. It wasn't all the fault of the Switzerland squad that a point was not gained, decisions didn't go their way on the day and this was their ultimate downfall. Neither Switzerland nor the Czech Republic played well; neither side looked strong and both will struggle in the Euro 2008 tournament. In Group A Portugal rule the roost, two will progress but the other place in the Quarter Finals currently looks to be up for grabs.

Switzerland versus Czech Republic was not a hugely entertaining game, it was a start to the tournament however and one that ended with a win for Czech Republic. Not the most exciting first tournament game in the world, at least Euro 2008 is now underway however and with three points under their belts the Czech Republic could well ride into the UEFA Euro 2008 Quarter Finals, crusade their way to the last 16 and probably there fail.

Final Score: Switzerland 0 - 1 Czech Republic