Not a great game, but if anyone wondered about Shaqiri, this match cemented the importance that he is to the Swiss team.
Yes, I hope he will leave Bayern to play more. Sure, Bayern it's Bayern, but he can find a good team to be a regular starter.
Rumour has it that Switzerland are playing today. Needless to say our media are still waffling about Rooney & co (and prefer to 'discuss' only France in GpE) I did a 'google' of Switzerland v Ecuador. Guess what? Most hits were US websites......and the UK media says the US is insular?! 6th in the World rankings? 'Someone's having a laugh' - but it's an excuse for our media to have another pop at FIFA/Sepp Blatter. 'No-one' likes the Swiss - but that's just jealousy! Ah well, let's see what happens next. GCZ: Re your earlier post: Happy fatherhood, but don't open an ABN-AMRO a/c in your offspring's name
Hmmm. I'll have to adjust what I was going to post - which was: The Ecuador free-kick which lead to their goal was taken from the wrong position (outside of the 'spray' zone) Switzerland had a legitimate 'goal' disallowed....but then there was Behrami's crucial tackle and....Seferovic! Our media is 'annoyed'.....which is nice
2-1. Nice win. I will watch the match later today on ESPN3.com Next match against France should be a really good one.
Honestly he was the only Swiss player who really impressed me. Nobody else seemed willing to do much for most of the game.
I think that the game was about a result. Most of the players played hesitantly yesterday. If offside goal had counted like it should have, there is a very different story of this match. But the most important part is that 3 points were earned.
Shaqiri was phenomenal. Aside from the poor free kick early in the half and the equally poor free kick shortly after, he was a menace all over the pitch. Inler had a few fantastic tackles as well when the Ecuadorians were in possession and moving on the counter. A win like that in the last seconds can only do wonders for the confidence and moral.
Cannot forget him, a vast, vast majority of the players in the footballing world would have gone down and appealed for a foul 2-3 times during that sequence. That was hands down the play of the match.
The match against France should be a very interesting one. France played well in their last match. They might have shown more that the Swiss did.
I'm curious to see how the match plays out as well, with all due respect to Honduras, they don't have the attacking options or flair that the Swiss have. That allowed France to play a lot more free flowing and attacking minded without having to worry to much about getting exposed badly on the counter. It will be interesting to see how Deschamps decides to play this match.
Wow! That was not the type of match that I expected. 2-5 for the French. France was not that much better, but they were much more efficient and much better in transition. The Inler to Xhaka was nice. Looks like it will come down to the match against Honduras again.
He sat back and let the speed of the French counter really devastate the Swiss. Transition goals accounted for at least three of the goals, plus the non-goal by Benzema at the end of the match. I think the French could do well in this tournament.
Looked like a heart in the direction of the Swiss fans who were at the match. A little thank you gesture.
It did look like something like that - a heart. Was wondering if it had a particular/cultural significance, I find that stuff really interesting. Or if he was a rehabilitated Swiss thug shouting out his old gang.