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Co-hosts burned by friendly fire
By Steffen Potter
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Dejected Swiss players after the 4-0 defeat
against Germany (¿Getty Images)
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Switzerland tried to pick out any positives going
from their heavy 4-0 defeat by Germany, while Austria coach Josef Hickersberger
argued that "life goes on" following his team's stunning 4-3
loss to the Netherlands.
'We helped them'
The two UEFA EURO 2008T co-hosts had an off-day in defence, with Austria
conspiring to let a three-goal lead slip in Vienna and the Swiss capitulating
in Basel. "Of course, we thought this would turn out differently,"
said Switzerland coach Jakob Kuhn in the wake of his side's fourth successive
reverse. "We were inferior in almost every department. We looked
OK after a weak start, but individual and unforced mistakes made us look
amateurish. Germany were much stronger physically, but we helped them
to win."
'Harsh result'
With Alexander Frei back from injury and paired with Eren Derdiyok up
front, Switzerland were hoping to improve on their run of one goal from
three games, but while Frei carved out a couple of chances it was failings
in defence which undermined the home side. "It was a very harsh result,"
insisted Bayer 04 Leverkusen midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta. "We
had a good first half but lost two balls stupidly in the run-up to the
second and third German goals. After that, we were done for."
Austrian collapse
In Austria's case, defensive frailties looked to have been resolved of
late, with fans far more concerned about their misfiring strike department.
That was certainly the problem during February's 3-0 loss to Germany,
but the issue has been clouded again by Wednesday's performance. Indeed,
Hickersberger's charges managed to register three strikes in the first
half, only to then let the Dutch hit four. "Of course, the disappointment
is huge but life goes on," said the coach. "We have to learn
from the best and from our mistakes. We have now learned not to defend
too deep when we are ahead."
Staying power
In the plus column, work on set-pieces paid off with Sebastian Prodl converting
twice from near-identical corners. "Things don't always work out
as perfectly as they did for my two goals, but of course we practiced
that move in training," explained the defender. His captain Andreas
Ivanschitz lamented the team's inability to maintain their great start,
meanwhile: "Just a few sensational minutes are not good enough against
world-class opposition." That was an opinion echoed by his coach:
"Unfortunately, we cannot play good football for the full 90 minutes
yet."
Euro2008.uefa.com,
27 March 2008
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