matchreport - 17-Apr-10 - swiss v. nippon
Team Swiss
Author Anonymous
line up
Crawley, Braegger (Schulthess), Keiser, Bobbia, Stokkmo, Patton, Steinegger, Kofinas, Buchmann (Williams), Buerzle (Raess), Stroppini (Taslksis)
Swiss Match Report
The sky was dark, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled across the distant kampong hills, but the rain never fell as heavily as advertised and the game got under way normally. The Swiss began quickly with a high work-rate midfield sending through balls in neatly for the forwards. Stroppini was taken down roughly by the keeper just outside the box (keeper was the last man and no red card was shown to everybody surprise - actually we are not anymore surprised of such decisions) and Norman had a close chance just parried away by the keeper's outstretched trailing leg. But the Swiss would not be thwarted for much longer and the forwards managed to convert their chances and held a 2-0 lead at the half hour mark. Perhaps it was a sense of complacency, perhaps it was just an increasingly soggy field; Christiano Buchmann's step-overs were not nearly as effective as he anticipated they would be, and a quick counter by the Japanese saw a cross float over everybody and somehow end up in the back corner of the goal. At 2-1 the Japanese surely felt back in it and the halftime whistle was welcomed. The team talk focused on renewing the sense of urgency and bringing back the desire and passion. Such wondrous managerial motivational tactics saw two of the more heavily chastised individuals connect for a goal early in the second as Christiano's cross found a streaking Stroppini in front of the net. Soon after, Simone, clearly rediscovering his inner passion for goals, fired one in from close range and the score line was looking more comfortable for the Swiss. The Japanese continued to fight on and pushed for goals, but in the end the more open game lead to Swiss goals by Stroppini and Raess, the last a neatly directed shot into the far bottom corner.
Thanks to the Japanese for a well-played game, with luck we will be
granted better weather for our matches next year.

The pitch was just OK to play but fortunately the earlier game has been
cancelled as otherwise no game would have been possible. 

Good performance by the referee (despite his "bad" call in the first 5
minutes)
latest news