Switzerland

YAKIN DOUBLE RESTORES SWISS PRIDE

EURO 2008 MATCHDAY NINE
GROUP A
PORTUGAL 0 - 2 SWITZERLAND

The co-hosts may have already exited and the Portuguese qualified for the quarter-finals but that can do nothing to detract from Switzerland’s first ever victory in the final stages of the European Championships.

New Chelsea boss ‘Big Phil’ Scholari may have been the centre of attention, upstaging the tiresome circus that is Cristiano Ronaldo’s future, but Hakin Yakin was the star of the show. Two goals in the final nineteen minutes gave the Swiss a well-earned victory. The Portuguese boss rang the changes in this final group stage but Switzerland ensured that Kobi Kuhn’s reign ended on a high.

Basle erupted in the seventy-first minute as Yakin opened the scoring and the cheers continued twelve minute later as he converted a penalty to seal the win. Yakin had earlier been denied the chance of a hat-trick as the Portuguese ‘keeper, Ricardo, made a fine save from his header whilst Pepe had Portugal’s best opening, denied by the woodwork.

EURO 2008 MATCHDAY FIVE: [GROUP A] SWITZERLAND 1 - 2 TURKEY

Switzerland became the first of the co-hosts to crash out of Euro 2008 as Turkey scored a late goal to keep their faint hopes alive for reaching the Quarter-Finals. The victory has set up a ‘winner takes all’ clash with the Czech Republic this weekend for the runners-up berth in the Group and a probable clash with favourites Germany.

The build-up to the match had been full of reminiscing about the ‘Battle of Istanbul’ during the qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup finals and was reward for a ‘devil-may-care’ attitude shown by the Turks in the second half.

The Swiss had opened the scoring in the first half through Hakin Yakin, their first goal in the final stages of the European Championships. In rain-soaked Basle, both sides knew only victory would be enough to give themselves a fighting chance of staying in the competition. Demirel in the Turkish goal was the busier custodian in the first half, saving well from Yakin and Barnetta before Philippe Senderos sent a long, diagonal pass to set Derdiyok on a charge into the penalty area. As the ‘keeper committed himself, the Swiss sqaured to Yakin, to score from six yards; a sweet moment for a player born in Turkey.

Behrami spured a glorious chance for a second killer goal, heading wide from Yakin’s cross and it was to prove costly as the Swiss crumbled under Turkish pressure in the second half. Just before the hour mark, Nihat crossed from the left and Senturk arrived late to head in at the far post. Parity restored and the pendulum had swung decisively in the Turks favour as the hosts could not muster much of a response.

Despite this, Yakin almost won the match in the dying minutes but Demirel’s double save kept the Turks alive. With the clock almost run down, Turkey broke away and Turan found the back of the net via a Swiss defender, his shot looping over Benaglio in the Swiss goal.