Switzerland v Portugal - Euro 2008

Going into this game it was always Yakin that had the potential to cause problems in the Swiss attack. In Euro 2008 the Swiss team has been pretty ineffective; Yakin is however an excellent player and isn't afraid of creating something out of nothing and bringing a little bit of flair to an otherwise entirely average Swiss side.

Zuberbühler
Magnin, Müller, Senderos, Lichtsteiner
Vonlanthen , Inler, Fernandes, Behrami
Yakin, Derdiyok

The following ten substitutes were named for Switzerland: Benaglio, Huggel, Degen, Cabanas, Spycher, Grichting, Barnetta, Gygax, Djourou, Jakupovic.

All three Swiss substitutions were utilised in the second half of the game - Vonlanthen was replaced by Barnetta in the 61st minute and it was left late for the other two to be made. In the 85th minute Grichting came on for Lichtsteiner, and in the 86th minute Cabanas appeared on the field in place of Yakin.

Portugal without the fancy footwork of one Cristiano Ronaldo is not a particularly exciting prospect, there is still a great deal of talent in this Portuguese team but Ronaldo is most definitely the best player for Portugal. Fellow Manchester United team mate Nani was looking to fill Ronaldo's boots in this game and fight for a place in the Portuguese quarter final starting XI.

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

Ricardo
Ferreira, Pepe, Veloso, Alves, Carvalho
Nani, Meireles, Meira, Quaresma
Postiga

Twelve substitutes were named for Portugal, the substitutes were as follows: Rui Patricio, Hugo Almeida, Miguel, Jorge Ribeiro, Ronaldo, Petit, Joao Moutinho, Deco, Simao, Bosingwa, Nuno Gomes, Quim.

A 41st minute substitution saw Jorge Ribeiro take to the field in place of Ferreira, a second sub was used in the 70th minute when Joao Moutinho came on for Veloso, and finally Hugo Almeida took to the field in place of Postiga in the 74th minute of the game.

Neither side had anything to play for in this game, it was a pointless game for both teams and yet Switzerland put out a pretty much full strength side; Switzerland lost their first two group games and clearly the team was looking to take a bit of pride away from this tournament. Switzerland and Austria are the co-hosts of Euro 2008, winning this game would be like winning the whole of Euro 2008 for Switzerland and this Portuguese team could in fact go on to win the competition so this could well be seen as a monumental victory for the Swiss team. The whole Portuguese midfield was left on the bench, Postiga started instead of Nuno Gomes; the Portuguese defence was however kept more or less the same as normal. With a second string Portuguese team fielded this would be the perfect chance for Switzerland to score some points from Euro 2008, it was the teams last opportunity to gain anything from Group A and the most was definitely made of this game.

This was a huge chance for Nani to shine on the wing for Portugal, he's had a fairly ineffective season at Manchester United but in truth he still has much to learn and requires a great deal of development as a player before he is truly the 'finished product' so to speak. The Portuguese team didn't exactly gel so well as it had done in the first two games of the tournament, a lot of changes were made and this seriously effected the flow of the Portuguese game. Cristiano Ronaldo is an incredibly important player in the Portugal team; without him the Portuguese side struggled to make any real impact on this game against the vastly inferior opponents of Switzerland. Portugal did score, it was ruled to be offside however and Nani also had a great opportunity to take the lead for Portugal which he wasted.

Going into this game a massive eight changes were made by Chelsea's new boss Luiz Felipe Scolari; the man doesn't speak a word of English and I fail to see how he'll last too long in the English game but over the years he's certainly proven himself to be an excellent manager. Scolari did the right thing making so many changes, it gave him a great opportunity to assess fringe players and see how they cope together with the tough task of international competition. In the 71st minute Switzerland thanked Portugal's Scolari kindly as Yakin took the lead for them with a well taken goal under the body of Ricardo. I felt for Switzerland in this game, they're the co-hosts of the tournament and yet previous to this game had suffered two defeats and everyone was expecting a third to come for them. Switzerland could easily have lost three games on the trot, it didn't happen as it goes but it could well have done and this would have been a great shame. Victory was sealed for Switzerland in the 83rd minute as Yakin scored from the spot and secured his second of the game. It was a nice way for Switzerland to end their tournament, an interesting little experiment from Portugal and one that favoured the Swiss fantastically in being able to overcome a Portuguese team ranked as one of the best in the tournament.

I liked this match, it was a nothing game but one that was played with heart by both sides. Switzerland did not want to lose all three of their Euro 2008 games, when you're co-hosting a competition it's not a good look to lose all of your games and the Swiss will be thankful that they did not do so here. This is not a strong Swiss team, the Portuguese team may have been mainly made up of the substitutes bench but still it was one that was stronger on paper than the side of Switzerland. There are a lot of holes in the Swiss team, these problems seemed to be overcome in this game however and a win for Switzerland was something that was extremely pleasing to see. Portugal had a goal ruled out for offside, it wasn't actually offside and had that goal counted then it could and probably would in fact have been a completely different story. Luck was on the side of the Swiss in this game, a 2-0 win was gained and this was nothing less than deserved. Switzerland is a side out of Euro 2008; Portugal will be in the quarter finals however and I'm still tipping this team to go all the way.

Final Score: Switzerland 2 - 0 Portugal