Switzerland 2 Portugal 0: IN THE END, the sporting gods found it hard to deny the Swiss a little bit of fun at their own party, granting them a 2-0 win over Portugal in Basle last night.
With Portugal already assured of their place in the quarter-finals as group winners and with the host nation already eliminated, this could easily have been a totally anti-climatic affair.
Not so. Switzerland are quite clearly no world beaters and an early departure from the competition was always a serious possibility but, if they were to depart the Euro 2008 stage, they opted last night not to do so without having given it a serious lash. In the end, their wholehearted endeavour was rewarded with a victory that delighted the noisy home fans.
After the match, coach Kobi Kuhn, in his last match in charge of Switzerland, did a lap of honour, complete with a specially prepared banner, reading "Merci Kobi". Winning World Cup coaches have been greeted with less pride and fervour.
Hakan Yakin scored both goals to give retiring Kuhn something to smile about after a disappointing tournament for the co-hosts.
"I think we owed it to Kobi Kuhn and the crowd to get a win and we showed today we could do it. I think it was a worthy send-off for the coach," said Yakin.
"We wanted to achieve something at this European Championship on home soil."
When the team selections were made available, it was clear that this might be a somewhat different night. Portugal coach Felipe Scolari not surprisingly opted to ring the changes in no uncertain fashion, making eight changes from the side that had beaten the Czech Republic 3-1 last time out.
Ronaldo, Deco, Carvalho, Gomes et al were to watch the night's action from the subs' bench. Even if, one or two of the substitutes such as striker Nani worked hard to impress his coach, it was clearly a tentative Portuguese side who were always going to struggle against the Swiss enthusiasm and pride.
For all that, the Portuguese might well have been 1-0 up by half-time. First defender Pepe touched a Nani free-kick on to the bar in the 18th minute and then centre forward Postiga had a 36th-minute goal disallowed, when the referee's assistant ruled him narrowly offside.
Those near misses should have made it clear that this was going to be Switzerland's night. So it proved with striker Yakin setting the home team on their way in the 71st minute when he made the most of a less than effective Portuguese clearance played straight back into him.
Five minutes later, Portugal should have equalised when Quaresma made the most of an not untypical piece of poor Swiss defending to break clear down the right. Although he had at least two team-mates waiting in the area for a pass that would require only a tap-in, Quaresma mistimed his delivery and Switzerland breathed a mighty sigh of relief.
Relief turned into total joy in the 83rd minute when defender Fernando Meira bundled over Swiss substitute Tranquillo Barnetta with a clumsy tackle that left Austrian referee Konrad Plautz little option but to decree a spot-kick. Up stepped Hakan Yakin again to score his second goal of the night and ensure that the Swiss cup of happiness was filled to overflowing.
SWITZERLAND: Zuberbuhler, Lichtsteiner (Grichting 85), Muller, Senderos, Magnin, Behrami, Gelson, Inler, Vonlanthen (Barnetta 61), Yakin (Cabanas 86), Derdiyok. Subs not used: Benaglio, Jakupovic, Djourou, Huggel, Gygax, Spycher, Degen, Frei, Streller. Booked: Yakin, Vonlanthen, Barnetta, Gelson.
PORTUGAL: Ricardo, Miguel, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Ferreira (Jorge Ribeiro 41), Fernando Meira, Veloso (Joao Moutinho 70), Raul Meireles, Quaresma, Postiga (Hugo Almeida 74), Nani. Subs not used: Quim, Rui Patricio, Bosingwa, Ronaldo, Petit, Simao, Carvalho, Deco, Nuno Gomes. Booked: Ferreira, Jorge Ribeiro, Fernando Meira, Miguel.
Referee: Konrad Plautz(Austria).
