Top Of The World

To almost universal disbelief, Switzerland sensationally triumphed in the 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, beating host nation Nigeria 1-0 in yesterday’s final in Abuja. This is the first time that Switzerland have won this competition, but then again, it is the first time that they have qualified in their modest history. In fact, no Swiss football team of any age has ever won a world championship. The victorious coach, Dani Ryser, said that it was a historic day for Swiss football, while the television commentator likened it to Roger Federer winning his first Wimbledon. Heady stuff, but it’s true that the match was broadcast in 190 countries – not the insular UK obviously, where viewers were instead presented with Southampton against Brighton & Hove Albion.

The reigning champions Nigeria were the overwhelming favourites to win an unprecedented fourth title at Under-17 level. Roared on by a packed stadium of 64,000 passionate fans, complete with national dress and noisy horns, the most successful side in the history of youth football must surely have anticipated the Swiss wilting in the 30-degree heat. However, little Switzerland (population 8 million) managed to defeat a country twenty times its size, even preventing the free-flowing young eagles from scoring for the only time in the event.

"Kissed for the very first time"

Indeed, the hosts started like “a swarm of mosquitoes” per Tages-Anzeiger, piling the pressure onto the beleaguered Swiss defence and creating three good chances in the opening fifteen minutes. After only three minutes, Abdul Ajagun was denied when his shot from the edge of the penalty area was cleared off the line by central defender Charyl Chappuis. Only a minute later, the outstanding Swiss goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist pushed away a shot from Aigbe Oliha, while Kenneth Omeruo’s towering header from a corner whistled just wide. The half ended as it had started with the promising Sani Emmanuel wasting a great chance when he mistimed his chip.

There was no doubt that the Swiss had enjoyed some Lady Luck, but it was a steely defensive effort. The Nigerians had created almost all the chances, but they had failed to convert any of them and they looked a little nervous on their return to the dressing room. On the other hand, the Swiss were delighted to be level. After the match, star striker Haris Seferovic said, “we knew that Nigeria could not maintain the same tempo as the first half”.

"We are the champions"

Nevertheless, Switzerland were indebted to their brilliant goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist, who made a series of sparkling saves to deny the opposition, despite taking a boot to the head after only ten minutes which required lengthy treatment. His match-winning display was rewarded with the Golden Glove award for the tournament’s best goalkeeper. He only conceded seven goals in as many games and it was not difficult to see why Aston Villa had already snapped him up. In the quarter-final, he had deflected a penalty against the Italians to ensure that his team continued their progress.

However, there’s a reason why people often talk of a “game of two halves” and the momentum turned in the second half. Switzerland emerged from their defensive shell and sought to punish their wasteful opponents. The much vaunted strike partnership of Haris Seferovic and Nassim Ben Khalifa combined beautifully in the 56th minute to open up the Nigerian defence, though Seferovic shot narrowly wide. The tall striker made amends six minutes later, when he leaped high to head a corner back into the far side of the net for the decisive goal.

"Thank you for sending me ... a medal"

The Swiss-born youngster with roots in Bosnia-Herzegovina cites Barcelona superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, also of Bosnian heritage, as his biggest influence and you can see the similarities in his predatory instinct for goals. He narrowly missed out on the Golden Shoe for the tournament’s top scorer, as his five goals required more playing time than the eventual winner, Spain’s Borja. He happily acknowledged the assistance from playmaker Ben Khalifa, emphasising the importance of the understanding developed at club level with Grasshoppers:

Nassim Ben Khalifa and I are a dream partnership. We know each other inside out and know exactly where the other is going to be and where to play the ball.

At the tender age of seventeen, Ben Khalifa already plays regularly for his club in the Super League (Switzerland’s top division), where he has demonstrated blistering pace, exquisite technique and composure in the box. A series of impressive all-round displays in Nigeria, including four goals and three assists, contributed to him winning the Silver Ball for the second best player in the tournament, as voted for by the world’s media. His football intelligence was clear when he was asked to comment on the winning goal:

We knew that Nigeria had a few tactical weaknesses, so we decided to approach the game in the same way we did against Brazil. Luck played a part of course, but you need that. We made sure we hit corners to the back post because we knew that the Nigerians never put a player there.

"Heavens above"

Nigeria were in no mood to relinquish their title without a struggle and in one attack they hit the bar and had the ball in the back of the net in the resulting goalmouth melee, though the referee disallowed it for an infringement on Siegrist. However, the Swiss teenagers kept their composure to become champions.

Although coach Dani Ryser admitted that, “it was close and we were lucky”, nobody could argue that the Swiss underdogs did not deserve their success, as they won all seven of their games in the tournament. Their march to victory included wins against the traditional power houses of Brazil, Germany and Italy and they booked their place in the final with a thumping 4-0 defeat of the much-fancied Colombian team in the semis.

Although Switzerland’s victory is astounding, it should not really be that much of a surprise, given that the team is unbeaten since May, when they reached the semi-finals of the Under-17 European Championship before losing to Holland. The football public began to pay them attention when they eliminated France and Spain at the group stages. The defence is difficult to breach with Charyl Chappuis and captain Frédéric Veseli forming a formidable defensive duo, aided and abetted by the rugged full-backs, Bruno Martignoni and Ricardo Rodriguez, who are often seen marauding up the wings. In the middle there is a classic mixture of creativity, mainly from Lazio’s Pajtim Kasami, who was nominated for the Golden Ball, and defensive cover, with Oliver Buff filling the role of holding midfielder. Apart from the strikers, on the wings there are equally eye-catching players in Janick Kamber and Granit Xhaka.

"See you later"

The trophy is a crowning achievement and a “dream of a farewell present” for the Swiss Football Association’s Technical Director, Hansruedi Hasler, who is retiring at the end of the year, having been responsible for nurturing young Swiss players for fifteen years:

Thanks to the good work by the clubs and the football association, young players today are significantly better developed. They are physically stronger, mentally more advanced and technically very, very strong. As a result, every year there are fifteen to twenty good players from whom the association can build a good team. In the mid-1990s on the other hand, the talent pool was limited.

If Hasler is the godfather of the team, coach Dani Ryser is the father of their success. A calm, meticulous man, Hasler described Ryser as a “tactical fox” who has a plan for every situation. Acclaimed by the national press as “perhaps the perfect coach for this Under-17 team”, he was also praised by the captain, Manchester City’s Frédéric Veseli, who said that Ryser “always finds the right approach to keep concentration levels high. It is his merit that we are such a close, organised team”.

"Fox in the box"

Perhaps the best compliment that can be paid to the team’s coach is that they did not play like a Swiss side. They played aggressively and with confidence, taking every opportunity to attack with speed and skill. Married to the usual Swiss qualities of tactical discipline and high work rate, this has produced a sparkling side that scored eighteen times in their seven matches, a total that only Spain matched in the tournament. As Ryser said, “We have no pressure, but a lot of pleasure”.

At least Switzerland’s success made irrelevant the question of the age of the Nigerian players. Despite FIFA President Sepp Blatter dismissing the accusations (“Our organisation is built on trust and respect”), Nigeria has form when it comes to manipulating players’ ages and FIFA has introduced an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) examination to test the teams, though the results are far from accurate. Suspicions were further raised when a former Nigerian international, now club owner and lawyer produced a 2002 squad photograph that included current Under-17 captain Fortune Chukwudi, meaning that he would now be an incredible twenty-five years old.

"Something to hide?"

Possibly the most inspiring aspect of Switzerland’s victory is the multicultural (“multikulti”) aspect of the winning team with an amazing thirteen of the twenty-one man squad having dual nationality, including Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, Italy, Portugal, Tunisia, Chile, Ghana and the Congo. I don’t know whether that would cause anguish to the far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP), but hopefully the team’s fantastic achievement fills them with as much pride as the rest of the Swiss.

The concern is whether these players will remain with the Swiss national team or be tempted to switch allegiance to their country of origin, as has happened in the past with the likes of Mladen Petric, Ivan Rakitic and Zdravko Kuzmanovic, who chose to play for Croatia and Serbia. It has been reported that Tunisia are already making overtures to the exciting Nassim Ben Khalifa, while Albania are trying to tempt Granit Xhaka. Against that, the line-up for Switzerland’s recent World Cup qualifier against Israel included seven dual nationals. For the moment, the prospects look good: Ricardo Rodriguez (Chile) said, “I grew up in Schwamendingen, I would definitely play for the national team”; André Goncalves (Portugal) confirmed, “For me, only Switzerland comes into question”; while Haris Seferovic (Bosnia) agreed, “I always promised to play for Switzerland”.

"Many deserving Swiss - and Sepp Blatter"

Of course, the best way to get young players to commit to Switzerland is success, which this group has already experienced, but coach Ryser has some wise words for his charges:

Winning the title is wonderful, but it's important that they don't get carried away. If they think they've made it now, then they won't win a thing next year. I hope that some of my lads will be playing in Brazil in 2014 - hopefully with as much success as they've had here in Nigeria.

Yesterday was the biggest moment in the history of Swiss football and it arrived on African soil. Let’s see how the seniors do next year in another part of the Dark Continent.

Johnny Come Lately

Champions League football returned to Switzerland last night as FC Zürich took on the mighty galacticos of Real Madrid and the Swiss Rambler just had to be there to see the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Raul, Xabi Alonso and Iker Casillas strut their stuff.

In a move that some in the paranoid English media had perceived as another attack on Premier League teams, UEFA President Michel Platini had amended the Champions League qualifying process to favour teams who had won their national leagues, one result being that Switzerland had a representative in the group stages for the first time since Thun in 2005. Unfortunately for me, FCZ (pronounced Eff-Say-Zed) did not draw my beloved Arsenal, but they did end up in a highly attractive looking section with Real Madrid, AC Milan and Marseille.

FCZ’s home ground is the Letzigrund, better known to many as the venue for the Weltklasse, the famous athletics meeting where the fast track and golden prizes tempt the world’s best athletes. The ground was rebuilt for the Euro 2008 Championships, but still has a limited capacity of 24,500. This is more than sufficient for the average Swiss League match, but meant that tickets for the Champions League (sold as a three game package) were like gold dust.

Although priority was naturally given to the faithful season ticket holders, a handful of tickets were made available to the rest of the public. Somehow, I managed to get hold of one, or, more accurately, Mrs. Swiss Rambler used her well-known blend of ingenuity and persistence to secure one for me as an early birthday present. God bless her.

"A world-class winker"

The stadium is pretty much what you would expect from the Swiss, being functional, comfortable and obviously very well organised. Getting to the ground is a piece of cake, as it has its own tram stop and extra trams are laid on for any big event. You might have to make the journey with a fellow passenger’s backside uncomfortably close (and it’s hardly ever an attractive young woman standing next to you, more likely an overweight middle-aged bloke smelling of Eau de Bratwurst), but you can at least be confident of getting to the church on time.

Despite the running track separating the pitch from the spectators, the view is excellent and the atmosphere surprisingly good. My seat was quite close to the Südkurve, which is where the FCZ hardcore fans congregate. They made a lot of noise during the whole game, even finding time to encourage the rest of the stadium to join in with the singing and chanting.

The match itself had a predictable outcome with Real winning 5-2, but, as is so often the case, the scoreline does not tell the whole story. Given that the vast majority of Real’s transfer budget this summer was invested in forwards, it was probably not too surprising that they looked fabulous in attack and rather frail at the back, but they probably did not anticipate having to score two goals in the last two minutes to dismiss the rank outsiders from Zürich.

"What's the time? Five past Zürich"

FCZ actually started quite well, adopting a high energy pressing game in the first 20 minutes to overcome the obvious technical shortfalls against the Madrileños, but then Real stepped up a gear and goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul and Gonzalo Higuain in a devastating 18 minute spell before half-time appeared to have put Real in an unassailable position. FCZ looked totally outclassed and Real could ease towards the interval in cruise control.

Having been taunted by the FCZ fans a few minutes earlier when he ballooned a set-piece over the bar, Ronaldo opened the scoring with a trademark spectacular free-kick from an almost identical position in the 27th minute.

The world-class Portuguese turned creator seven minutes later when he headed a cross into Higuain’s path on the right side of the box (just in front of my seat), from where the ball was squared by the Argentine forward for the inrushing Raul to net his 65th Champions League goal.

The Real captain had been combining beautifully with Higuain and he returned the favour to his strike partner in first half injury time, when his clever reverse pass gave Higuain the opportunity to muscle his way past his marker before easing a low shot past the hapless FCZ keeper.

"On me head, son"

For all Real’s attacking threat, the importance of former Liverpool star Xabi Alonso to the team’s rhythm was impressively evident, as he pulled the strings in midfield in the “quarter-back” role that David Beckham briefly aspired to in the England team. This ensured that Real maintained the lion’s share of possession, playing the game at their own (composed) pace before launching rapid attacks, often making use of the adventurous runs up the left wing by (notional) full-back Royston Drenthe. Alonso’s withdrawal with an ankle injury early in the second half upset their balance to such an extent that it allowed FCZ to launch a stirring comeback.

Xavier Margairaz had already missed a glaring chance when he headed narrowly wide from a corner, before Casillas conceded a penalty after he was adjudged to have brought down Alphonse, though the contact appeared minimal and the fall was more than a touch Eduardo-esque.

No matter, Margairaz coolly slotted the spot-kick past Casillas in the 64th minute, even though the stuttering run-up did not look that of a man confident of scoring.Before the game, Raul had admitted that Margairaz was the only FCZ player he had heard of and the midfielder was now making his considerable presence felt with some delightful touches for a big man (© Peter Crouch), having been utterly anonymous in the first period.

"Here comes the punchline"

Within a minute, FCZ had reduced the deficit to just one, when Aegerter, by no means the tallest man on the park, headed home Vonlanthen’s inswinging corner without a marker in sight. Game on!

Real’s vulnerability in defence is a worrying sign for future matches when they will come up against tougher opposition and for a while they looked disjointed and shaky in this match. Kaka flattered to deceive with his tricky dribbles, while the over-lapping full-backs were restrained by the pace of Johan Vonlanthen on the wing.

After the match, Real coach, Manuel Pellegrini, claimed that his team “always had the game under control”, but there were a few nervous moments before FCZ ran out of ideas and the six yellow cards they collected highlighted Real’s frustration.

Real conclusively put the game to bed in the last minute when FCZ keeper, Johnny Leoni, inexplicably punched a soft Ronaldo free-kick into the roof of the net. Leoni should also have done better with Ronaldo’s first-half shot, which, although struck with great power, was pretty much hit straight at him, but this effort was comical in the extreme.

During the warm-up, I had watched as Leoni dropped a succession of straightforward crosses and had: (1) feared the worst for the loyal FCZ supporters; (2) wondered whether he had any Scottish ancestors. Leoni had been quoted before the game as saying that Ronaldo was only human and it is true that he did not have to do anything special to put two past this pathetic keeper.

On Sky Sports, the inimitable Gordon Strachan suggested that Leoni should have been booked for time wasting … as he was wasting everyone’s time. Deep into injury time, Guti put the icing on the cake with a sublime chip, though his task was made easier by the punch-drunk Leoni wandering into no man’s land.

"Back of the net"

FCZ trainer, Bernard Challandes, had worried before the match (in his highly amusing blend of German and French) that his players would be star-struck in the presence of the Spanish team’s superstars and it certainly felt as if FCZ gave Real far too much respect in the first period.

Challandes is a charismatic figure on the touchline, the cool image of his sharp suit, deep tan and silver hair slightly marred by the constant leaping around and frantic gestures towards his team and the unfortunate match officials. During the half-time break you could imagine Challandes applying the hairdryer, not only to his own locks, but also to his bewildered players, advising them to concentrate on the game plan rather than worry about whose jersey they wanted to swap afterwards.

Switzerland is not the largest country in the world (land mass, population, influence) and the Swiss sometimes have a small town mentality when dealing with international celebrities. The fawning adoration exhibited when the likes of Robbie Williams deign to honour us with their presence is truly embarrassing and it was no different when Real Madrid came to play: the airport arrival lounge was absolutely rammed, while the hotel was besieged with screaming teenagers and those old enough to know better.

On the pitch, the crowd certainly got their money’s worth. They had come to praise Cristiano Ronaldo (or at least serenade him with “hijo de puta” – impressive for the perfect Spanish parlance, depressing for the predictability of the abuse), but they ended up burying poor Johnny Leoni, whose Man of the Match performance gifted the tie to a Real Madrid team that really did not need the help of a clown.

The Name Of The Blog

Hello, good evening and welcome to the very first post of The Swiss Ramble.

Or, doffing a cap to my Swiss location, perhaps I should say: willkommen, bienvenu and benvenuto (and whatever the hell "welcome" is in Rumantsch). Yes, I am based in Switzerland, the German part to be a touch more precise.

I have given a lot of thought (at least 20 minutes) to what I should call my blog, initially thinking that I should aim for an amusing one word play on the word Swiss, but then firmly rejecting all attempts. Swiss Toni is a great TV character, but I have never been called Toni (with or without an "i"), so that's not really relevant. I quite liked Swisstory, but, of course, someone far smarter than me has been quicker off the mark and already writes a blog of that ilk. Swissues was getting a bit desperate, not to mention overly pompous.

Reasons why I am writing this blog could also come into play, but Gardening Leave is only a temporary phase, and as for Mid-Life Crisis, it's not as if I am buying a Harley or running off with the secretary (been there, done that).

No, what I really want is a platform where I can place my thoughts on any subject that takes my fancy. Quite often, this may be simply a review of something I like: film, album, book, podcast, etc. There will be quite a few sporting references, many of them on my favourite team, Arsenal. Sometimes, I may even go off on a full-scale rant (see "A Confederacy of Dunces" for inspiration). In any case, it's my blog, so I will develop it however I damn well want.

The idea for this blog came to me during one of my daily walks (a sort of ramble), while listening to one of my favourite podcasts, The Football Ramble. Given that my thoughts are usually rambling, part of the blog name was screaming out to me. It only remained to jam in the Swiss aspect.

So, this will be a Swiss Ramble on all of the above, but, rest assured, it will most certainly NOT be yet another blog stuffed to the gills with pictures of the (admittedly beautiful) Swiss countryside. The world is already very well served with enough of those.