Sat Jun 7 14:04:59 2008

Comment | Email | Print

Sverkos, Czech Republic, hold off Swiss

---

Basel, Switzerland (Sports Network) - Vaclav Sverkos scored his first international goal in the 71st minute to help the Czech Republic slip past Switzerland, 1-0 at St. Jakob Park on Saturday in the opening match of Euro 2008.

The Swiss were the better side for much of the match, but they failed to put away any of their chances, while the Czech's produced little offensive pressure but made the most of it.

Switzerland was the better side over the first 45 minutes, testing Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Cech on a few occasions, while also keeping their opposition's attack under wraps.

Alex Frei got the first good look at goal three minutes into the match when his shot from 25 yards skipped past the left post following a turnover. Valon Behrami tested Cech for the first time in the 16th minute with a shot from just outside the area, but Cech saved it comfortably.

A nice build up minutes later led to another shot on target by Gokhan Inler, but the keeper got down to smother it.

The best chance of the first half came in the 21st minute for the Swiss, when goalkeeper Diego Benaglio played a long ball out of the back that bounced in behind the Czech defense and into the box. Frei got to the ball first and poked a shot towards goal, but Cech came off his line and stopped the shot with his legs.

Frei smacked another shot on goal from 30 yards that forced Cech to parry the shot, but Marco Streller was ruled offsides as he tried to follow it up.

The most dangerous player on the field in the first half was Frei, but his day came to an early end shortly before halftime when he suffered a knee injury after a tackle from Zdenek Grygera, and he was taken off at halftime in favor of Hakan Yakin.

Yakin had a chance to make an immediate impact after coming on at halftime as he curled a left-footed free kick over the wall from 25 yards, but it sailed just over the crossbar.

Marek Jankulovski put a free kick harmlessly over the net for the Czech Republic, but the Swiss went right back on the attack with Stephan Lichtsteiner crossing from the right flank for Yakin at the penalty spot, only for the striker to head the ball wide.

The Czech's had failed to produce much offense in the match, but with 20 minutes remaining, they made the most of a rare chance to take the lead.

Jaroslav Plasil had a shot blocked at the top of the box and the ball caromed towards midfield. It was then headed over the top and Sverkos tracked it down before firing into the bottom right corner.

The goal came clearly against the run of play, but the Swiss responded and nearly leveled the match with 10 minutes left.

Tranquillo Barnetta's shot from the top of the box was parried to the left by Cech, but it fell to the feet of Johan Vonlanthen, who smacked his shot off the crossbar.

The Swiss had one final chance deep in stoppage time, but an appeal for handball against the Czech's Tomas Ujfalusi was turned down, allowing the Czech Republic to escape with all three points.

Group A will resume play on Wednesday when the Czech's face group favorites Portugal, while Switzerland tries to rebound with a win against Turkey.