Euro 2008 Live Blog: Switzerland v. Czech Republic

It's finally here, the first match of Euro 2008 pitting co-host Switzerland against a strong Czech Republic squad from St. Jakob Park in Basel, Switzerland. I am thoroughly excited about the tournament, although I won't likely be able to watch every single minute of each match like I did with World Cup 2006. Stupid jobs and needing to make money.

This match has the potential to be a scoreless draw. The Swiss are known for keeping a tight back line having been ousted from the last World Cup without allowing a goal. The Czech team is led by its all-world keeper Petr Cech. But, the Czech team is missing some of its offensive firepower with Tomas Rosicky out injured and Pavel Nedved retired.

After the jump, the lineups

Czech Rep.
Petr Cech-G; Marek Jankulovski-D, Tomas Ujfalusi-D, David Rozehnal-D, Zdenek Grygera-D; David Jarolim-M, Libor Sionko-M, Tomas Galasek-M, Jaroslav Plasil-M, Jan Polak-M; Jan Koller-F

Switzerland

Diego Benaglio-G; Patrick Müller-D, Ludovic Magnin-D, Philippe Senderos-D, Stephan Lichtsteiner-D; Tranquillo Barnetta-M, Valon Behrami-M, Fernandes Gelson-M, Gokhan Inler-M; Alexander Frei-F, Marco Streller-F

0:00 The match is underway, but you know what sucks...not having ESPN Classic and only getting an Asian language feed. Gotta find something better.


6:00 Seriously, this is annoying. Compounded by some domestic disorder this morning, my day is not starting well.

Not even a fucking clock...Jeeezzus!!

16:00 Now it's french...I don't fucking speak french. Bastards.

20:00 Swiss Mister Frei with a nice touch on to free his teammate for a shot on Cech. But, the effort was lacking and Cech easily smothered it.

22:00 Wow! That was some pathetic defense on the Czech squad. Allowing the ball to bounce over his head letting Frei free, but Cech again saved the team coming off his line.

25:00 That was an ambitious effort from Sionko for Czech Rep. An off-balance turn at the 18 with no pace on the shot. Good idea.


27:00 The Czech squad seems to be having trouble stringing anything together. Just trying to power it in without any strategy right now. They should fix that.

30:00 Seriously, the Czech strategy seems to be hump the ball upfield and (1) shoot or (2) try to get it to Koller's head. Now, Koller is tall and it worked against the US two years ago, but really?

34:00 Foul on Fernandes. His name definitely sounds Swiss.

35:00 If Koller had been 6 inches taller, he would be playing basketball, but he might have been able to get his head on that. Who am I kidding, he would have had to be faster and younger. Tough to get to when your old as the alps.

36:00 The Swiss offense finally reappeared with an excellent long-range shot that Cech could only parry away but there were Swiss attackers in the area, that were offside. Lucky for the Cech.

41:00 The lone creative force in this match, Alex Frei, is down and has to come off to the sideline after a Czech player came in on a tackle and twisted his knee. Hopefully he can make a Paul Pierce like comeback. Otherwise, this match is going to be even less tolerable.

45:00 Well, we have our first man tears as Frei sheds a few as he walks back to the lockerroom with his knee wrapped in ice. This doesn't look good.

Halftime 0-0 Well, at least there have been a few opportunities.


So, is horseracing that popular that ESPN needs to cover all the races prior to the Belmont Stakes this morning rather than putting soccer on a channel that just about all cable systems in the US have? Just curious. I mean, there is only so many times I can stand to watch Big Brown bucking in his security stable this morning and hearing the question "Is this going to affect him?"...No you fucking asshole, it won't and if it does will it change your bet? Not likely you fucking degenerate gambler.

46:00 So Frei is off, Hakin Yakin is on for him. Bummer.

Precious Roy writes:

The real reason soccer will never be huge in this country?

Every time there is good buzz for the sport off something like the CL final, the very next match that people might tune in to is invariably something like this.

Thankfully this match is only on ESPN Classic. Those bastards.

47:00 A nice set play for the Swiss off the corner that gets Cech on the ground for the save.

That was a nice overhead camera shot prior to the corner. Like thos NFL sky cams. I'd like to see more of those shots.

51:00 Yakin has impacted the match since he stepped on the pitch. He is looking very dangerous.

In case your interested, Piazza de Spagna won the MSG Network Purse just now. Congratulations. Now switch over to a soccer match ESPN, you wankers.

57:00 Sverkos on for Koller...hopefully this will keep them away from Route 1 football.

59:00 Magnin, the new Swiss captain, becomes the first player booked in the tourney on a late tackle from behind.

60:00 Sionko gets a head on the ensuing free kick but it goes just wide right. A good opportunity and Sionko continues to impress.

62:00 Lichtsteiner made a nice run to the corner with the ball and weighted a nice cross to the middle of the box that Bernetta skied. I would really like to see a goal. But, nobody seems to have the finishing quality.

65:00 Yakin proves dangerous again getting his head on a cross but it goes wide right.

67:00 Frei comes out from the lockerroom on crutches. What a disappointment to suffer the injury. I hope it's not too serious.

71:00 GOALLLLL!!! 1-0 C.R. The sub Sverkos scores for Czech on some bad defending. The line let him slip by as the ball was chipped over and he loped onto into easily putting it in the right corner.

That's the first goal the Swiss have conceded in an international tournament since 2004.

75:00 Vanlanthen on for Lichtsteiner, who played well, and then Vanlanthen gets a yellow immediately. Well done, well done.

78:00 How unlucky can Switzerland get. They had Cech beaten with a rebound on a shot but the woodwork still beat them.

By the way, it looks like TIET was serious that she would turn off the match if Frei was out. Haven't seen hide nor hair of her since halftime. She is a principled woman.

82:00 Sionko off for Vlcek. I'd like to give this guy one of Sionko's vowels.

I think Magnin was an extra on the Caveman show.

87:00 Jarolim on for Kovac. I'm not going to even pretend I know a single thing about these guys. My Froot Loops have been more interesting than the end of this match. Did you know it has a new "Darkberry" Froot Loop? that might be mildly racist.

90:00 3 Minutes of stoppage time. I must say Cech hasn't looked great. He gave up an easy corner there and just seems out of synch.

90:00 +2 Hey, Shaq's at the Belmont Stakes. Is somebody going to ride him in the race?

Goal scorer Sverkos gets the stretcher after he ran into a Swiss ass. No, I don't mean Senderos.

90:00 +5: Barnetta gets booked and we have the final whistle. Czech Republic has to be happy with the win but somewhat concerned with their lack of offense. While, the Swiss are probably pretty down after losing Frei and creating the majority of the chances but failing to capitalize.

Well, see you all in about an hour for the next match between Portugal and Turkey.