Swiss bow out with dignity
BASEL, Switzerland: Switzerland departed Euro 2008 with heads held high after beating a second-string Portugal side 2-0 on Sunday.
Man-of-the-match Hakan Yakin's second-half double provided the Swiss supporters with a measure of consolation after narrow losses to Czech Republic and Turkey had ensured their side would not go beyond the first round.
Already sure of top spot in group A, Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari took the opportunity to rest most of the players who will be back here on Thursday to contest a quarterfinal against Germany, Austria or Poland.
"I'm very pleased that we were able to give this gift to the fans," Swiss coach Jakob Kuhn said. "But of course there is a bit of sadness because we deserved to take at least a point from both of our first two games and it now looks as if that would have been enough to qualify us for the quarterfinals."
Scolari regretted not fielding a complete reserve side.
The four yellow cards the Portuguese picked up concerned their Brazilian coach more than the result.
There were bookings for Fernando Meira, a substitute in the two previous group wins, Paulo Ferreira, Miguel and Jorge Ribeiro.
"Those yellow cards will be carried into the next phase so we're running risks. I didn't need to run this risk," Scolari told reporters.
"I told my players not to complain because they would get another caution if they made any mistakes," Scolari said of his halftime team talk.
"Later we are going to see the consequences."
Should any of the four be booked again, along with Jose Bosingwa who was cautioned earlier in the tournament, they would be ruled out of a semifinal if Portugal get through Thursday's last eight match in Basel.
AFP/Agencies
(China Daily 06/17/2008 page22)
