Match Number: 800 Date: 26-March-2008 Location: Basel (Switzerland) Competition: Friendly SWITZERLAND: Benaglio Lichtsteiner, Eggimann, Senderos (75. von Bergen), Spycher Behrami (58. Gygax), Barnetta (79. Vonlanthen), Inler, Fernandes (87. Huggel) Derdiyok (46. N'Kufo), Frei (83. Yakin) GERMANY: Lehmann Lahm (87. Trochowski), Westermann, Mertesacker, Jansen (79. Rolfes) Fritz (72. A. Friedrich), Ballack, Hitzlsperger, Schweinsteiger Klose (58. Podolski), Gomez (75. Kuranyi) Scoring: 0:1 Klose (23.) 0:2 Gomez (61.) 0:3 Gomez (67.) 0:4 Podolski (89.) Referee: Eric Braamhaar (Niederlande) Yellow cards: Behrami, Inler - Schweinsteiger, Klose Attendance: 38,500It shouldn't be THAT surprising, as Germany hasn't lost to Switzerland in 51 years. But you can never tell which German squad is going to show up. In this case, a rather good performance as Germany dominated the match against a surprisingly lame Swiss squad. The DFB squad took the lead midway through the 1st half and then proceeded to strangle their opponents. The defense was tight, and the attack pressured the Swiss until they finally broke.
The Germans pressured from the start, but the Swiss were holding up OK. Then Gomez beat his defender and put in a low cross, Swiss GK Benaglio fumbled it, and Klose was there for the tap in. The Swiss were shocked, and now came under bombardment for the rest of the game. Only Dortmund forward Alexander Frei remained a threat to GK Jens Lehmann, and the Swiss basically folded up tent.
In the 2nd half, it was only a matter of time before the goals started flowing. Gomez netted twice, and Podolski, who had come on, finished them off. The outstanding player on the pitch was Stuttgart forward Mario Gomez, who scored twice and was simply unstoppable. Lukas Podolski also had an outstanding game, always dangerous. Jens Lehmann actually had a decent match, coming up with a couple of good saves when he had to. For the Swiss, very disappointing, they certainly hoped for better. Despite his patzer on the opening goal, GK Diego Behrami was on the verge of being respectable, as was MF Behrami. Frei had a couple of chances, but wasted them. Not shocking, DF Phillip Senderos sucked, like he does at Arsenal on a regular basis.
The Swiss press was full of despair over the showing "a bitter lecture" or "a brutal ear-boxing". As co-hosts of the upcoming Euro 2008, they have a way to go.