Switzerland 1 England 3
The Three Lions made it six points from six with an impressive away win in Basel to sit top of Group ? in the Euro 2012 Qualifiers. A first half strike from Wayne Rooney was added to by goals from the in-form Adam Johnson and Darren Bent’s first in national colours with only Xherden Shaqiri’s reply for Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side.
In the tenth minute, Glen Johnson and Theo Walcott combined superbly down the right with the former crossing leaving Rooney with a simple tap in past new father Diego Benaglio. That would unfortunately be the end of Walcott’s night as the Arsenal winger was stretchered off replaced by the scorer of England’s second. Jermain Defoe, the hat-trick hero from Friday’s 4-0 win over Bulgaria could not quite latch on to a sublime ball from captain Steven Gerrard which may have seen the Lions further ahead before half time.
Swiss right back Stephan Lichsteiner was red-carded for a professional foul with a quarter of the game remaining for bringing down James Milner. Just a minute later England made their man advantage immediately count with Manchester City’s Adam Johnson capitalising on a defensive mistake before rounding the keeping and finishing nonchalantly. Switzerland responded almost instantly with the young Shaqiri being allowed to shoot by Ashley Cole and his failure to get tighter to the winger resulted in him unleashing an unstoppable strike past Joe Hart. Another better attacking performance from the Chelsea full back was rounded off with an assist for Bent’s maiden England goal in the last five minutes to restore the two goal cushion and destroy any hopes of a Swiss equaliser. The Sunderland striker who replaced Jermain Defoe netted with a sharp finish beating Benaglio at his near post with a powerful shot.
It was the performance of Adam Johnson which caught the eye again this evening. The tactic of cutting inside on the full backs seemed effective and praise must go to Fabio Capello as well as the players. With Milner joining his Man City teammate in the wide areas they gave Lichsteiner and former Tottenham player Reto Ziegler a torrid time. I would like to say a few words about Darren Bent though and how pleased England fans should be about him breaking his duck for his country. In previous games, particularly when he has started, he has suffered from a lack of service, but given a clear sight of goal he has shown he can deliver and it is gratifying to see a former youth international find the back of the net for the senior side. As with Johnson it vindicates the work of Under 21 managers and proves it is possible to translate youth side successes into the full national team.
The Swiss were very disappointing. Essentially the same side that defeated Spain in their opening World Cup group game, they looked so much more cumbersome in defence tonight. Gokhan Inler and Pirmin Schwelger offered little to no protection to their back four at all. They certainly seemed to be missing the creative influence of a Tranquillo Barnetta or Hakin Yakin. They offered no real threat and I am struggling to remember them testing Hart aside from Shaqiri’s thunderbolt which left him with no chance. Overall England fans should be satisfied with what is a perfect start to this qualification campaign and the two wins should ease the pressure on Capello and restore a bit of faith in their minds about the Italian.
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