Hitzfeld bids heartfelt farewell

Ottmar Hitzfeld said an emotional goodbye to his Swiss team and soccer on Tuesday as he quit the sport after a dramatic World Cup loss to Argentina and the death of his brother.

Despite the personal trauma of losing his brother Winfried, 81, to leukemia hours before the match, Hitzfeld very nearly masterminded a seismic upset of Argentina in his last hurrah as coach.

He said the extra-time loss reminded him of the 1999 Champions League final, when his Bayern Munich squad was minutes from victory before Manchester United scored twice.

Hitzfeld said his "heart was full of emotions" after the Swiss came just two minutes from a penalty shootout before Angel di Maria's extra-time winner in Sao Paulo.

"These are emotions you can only have with football, that's why I love football," he said.

"Switzerland has won a lot of hearts around the world today, and that is something that will make us proud."

The 65-year-old German, who won the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, had already announced he would retire after the World Cup.

"I will go on working for TV. I'll go to games as a journalist basically, so I have a quiet life in front of me," he said.

"The job as a coach is difficult. I'm proud of my career. I was fortunate to coach marvelous clubs and also the Swiss national team.

"It has been a great time working for them, so I say goodbye with a heart full of emotions."

After Argentina's winner, Hitzfeld went on the pitch to console his stricken players.

"It's normal to go on the pitch at a time like that. I did it when we lost the Champions League final (to United) in a matter of two or three minutes, and then I did it today," he said.

"I went onto the pitch to console the players and tell them they've done a great job for themselves and their country."

He said his players could leave with their "heads held high" after running two-time champion Argentina close on the sport's biggest stage.

"I guess every moment in football will stick in your memory and emotions are the same but today, this was a huge dimension," he said.

"It's a World Cup and we were nearly at a penalty shootout. That, of course, creates a lot of tension.

"Unfortunately we didn't make it, but I think we can walk tall and leave with our heads held high."

Falling short

Hitzfeld boldly promised his Switzerland squad would slow down Lionel Messi, and he nearly kept his word.

For 118 minutes in the second round of the World Cup, the feisty Swiss squad frustrated the Argentine superstar.

But with a shootout looming, Messi broke free and set up the winner for Angel di Maria, giving Argentina the 1-0 win.

Messi scored four of his team's six goals in the three group wins, but for most of Tuesday's match he was well contained by the Swiss defense.

Double-teamed and sometimes even triple-teamed, Messi only managed a pair of quality shots and often found himself on the turf, pushed and shoved by the relentless Swiss defenders. Once he even shoved back in frustration.

But ultimately it was the diminutive forward who once again made the difference.

"We know that Messi in one second can decide a match. He has sufficient qualities for that," said Hitzfeld.

The previous day Hitzfeld described Messi as "a problem that could be solved", and said his team would show the world how to stop the Argentine superstar. For much of the match it did, until Messi made a surging run toward the Swiss area and laid the ball off to di Maria, who finally beat goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.

A win over Argentina would have equaled Switzerland's greatest World Cup achievement, putting the team in the quarterfinals for the first time since it hosted the tournament in 1954.

With only a single loss in 18 matches leading up to the World Cup, the Swiss surged to No 6 in the FIFA rankings and earned a top group seeding in Brazil.

(China Daily 07/03/2014 page24)