Alexis Sanchez grapples with Reto Ziegler
Afternoon all. Interesting, very interesting (
as Barry Davies once said). And I don't think I'm the only one utterly intrigued by this fixture. The suped-up Ford Fiesta that is Chile v the slightly-battered but rugged Swiss Land Rover.
Chile were superb in their first game against Honduras, their full-backs attacking with vim and vigour, their midfielders tricksy and direct. There usn't a Player Of The First Round of Matches Award, but if there was I'd have handed it to Alexis Sanchez, who was more refreshing than a shower in lemon juice (and almost as zesty).
Coach Bielsa likes to employ a 3-3-1-3 and they'll need to get players forward to break down a Swiss side that produced (still) the shock of the tournament so far by beating Spain, despite having 0.43% of the possession. The question is whether the Swiss look to land a knockout blow and risk a slightly more adventurous outlook, or whether there'll take a 'it was good enough for Spain, it'll be good enough today' approach. Although, to be fair, they played with two up front against the Spanish, and were discliplined in extremis against a team with clear technical superiority. Perhaps we shouldn't confuse work-rate and pragmatism with negativity.
The teams are in:
Chile (3-3-1-3):-Claudio Bravo; Mauricio Isla, Waldo Ponce, Arturo Vidal; Gary Medel, Carlos Carmona, Gonzalo Jara; Matias Fernandez; Alexis Sanchez, Humberto Suazo, Jean Beausejour.
Switzerland (4-4-2): Diego Benaglio; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Stephane Grichting, Steve Von Bergen, Reto Ziegler; Valon Behrami, Gokhan Inler, Benjamin Huggel, Gelson Fernandes; Alexander Frei, Blaise Nkufo.
Referee: Khalil Al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
So both sides see the return of important strikers. Chile's Suazo was the top scorer in South American qualifying, while Alex Frei is Switzerland's all-time top scorer with 40 goals from 73 caps and his personal website's photo album contains
this picture, which I find myself inexplicably fond of.
If you haven't already watched it take a bit of time pre-match to enjoy our
brick-by-brick reconstruction of England v Algeria. Rooney's fan rage is particularly good. And speaking of child-like joy, I'm going to an sports day this evening. In the park, With some friends. Egg-and-spoon race, beanbag-on-the-head race, digging-up-childhood-trauma-of-coming-last-and-getting-sympathy-applause-from-parents race … there'll all be there. Any last-minute suggestions to add to the programme?
Pre-match email dept. "Good to see Alex Frei back for the Swiss," writes Dave Cisowksi. "
He's got the best theme song of all time. Bang bang!" Ah, once upon a time I might have liked that. Now it's just noise. You know you're getting old when German thrash metal doesn't do it for you anymore.
And on a sports-day theme,
here's another bit of music from Hani Zaccarelli. Well, actually it's Roots Manuva, but you know what I mean. Clearly I need to get my hands on a multicoloured parachute for this evening.
Guy Mowbray has just referred to Swiss sports day on the Beeb commentary (a reference to Roger Federer playing at Wimbledon alongside the footballers). Spooky or what? As an aside, I spoke to Mowbray this morning for our England v Slovenia programme. A very nice man.
Anthemwatch: Chile: Big brass, big drums, bit of glockenspiel and a hands-on-heart full volume rendition from the players. Good stuff. Switzerland: Much more stately with an 18th century European feel. Chile supporters didn't do themselves any favours by chanting over it. Hmmm.
Peep! We're off! Chile in red, white and blue, Switzerland in their white away strip.
1 min: "How about 'best in the sack' race" chuckles Seth Ennis. That's more adult sports day than grown up sports day. Humberto Suazo is immediately into the referee's book for a studs-up challenge on Grichting.
2 min: "Re James Dart's Just Giving," noted Doug Suttle. "Er, can't help but notice that you haven't coughed up the conkers yet, so to speak? Shame on you! How about a fiver for every goal scored in this game?" It's a deal. Little pattern just yet, no one quite getting hold of the ball.
4 min: Sanchez gets on the ball for the first time and grapples his way to a free-kick off Ziegler. Decent position, wide on the left ...
5 min: ... headed away by Ziegler. It drops back out to Sanchez, who pings one well over the bar from an optimistic distance.
6 min: "I was always a keen spectator of the 'standing in tears, refusing to take part' race – usually fiercely contested, and very much a marathon, rather than a sprint," muses Michael Sones. Amen to that and the 'Wanting to go home now please' race. Behrami finds Lichtsteiner down the right but Chile smuggle it away comfortably.
7 min: Medel trips over and is very unfortuante to concede a free-kick to Switzerland, 40-odd yards out, level with the right edge of the box ...
8 min: ... Frei overhits. Goal-kick.
9 min: Jara finds Beausejour, who was outstanding in the first game, but he's offside. "You might want some KP Choc Dips for a treat afterwards, but don't make the mistake of experimenting with the white chocolate ones, they are pretty grim," writes
Bill Booth. "And what about those little certificates that we all used to get in pastel colours with edges that had been tarted up with pinking shears ..." Pinking shears? Where am I going to get pinking shears? 1987?
10 min: Superb double-save from Benaglio (who I might need to rename Benaglitypo considering how many attempts I just had at his name), first from Vidal, then from Carmona, both fizzing at goal, both wonderfully punched away.
12 min: Switzerland hearts skip a beat again as Sanchez gets round the back and pulls the ball out to Suazo on the edge of the area, who can only connect with the fresh Port Elizabeth air.
13 min: "In Silver Jubilee year as a six year old my sports day race involved making a 77 out of plasticine on a board and running with it above your head for 50 metres," writes Chris Williams. "I came last, very last. Thanks for bringing it up." Ah, the classic 'plasticine 77 above the head 50-yard dash'. Ziegler concedes a free-kick on halfway after clipping Sanchez.
15 min: The Chileans really are good to watch, the ball moves very quickly when they have possession, so it doesn't feel anywhere near as controlled as, say, Brazil, but it's certainly thrilling.
16 min: "When I was a five year old my all boys school used to organise a 'dressing up' race, which provided entertainment to onlooking teachers and parents as we poor sods struggled into our mother's dresses and stumbled over the finish line in stilettos," recalls Edward Vernon. "I won because my mum gave me a pair of flats." Cheat! You're the Kader Keita of the dressing up race. Fernandez just fails to find Isla (the rampaging right sided midfielder), but he's offside anyhoo.
17 min: Nkufo needlessly booked for ... well, nowt basically. That's two yellow cards already, worryingly.
19 min: Khalil al Ghamdi has been far too whistle-happy. He's a teacher in real life. Bet he clamps down hard on late homework. Nkufo can't quite get on the end of one through ball, and Benaglio does the sweeping up at the other end as Chile break.
21 min: "Re the 'standing in tears, refusing to take part' race," notes Wade in Adelaide. "France are currently leading I'd say." Peep! Peep! Peep! Carmona lunges in on Behrami to pick up a deserved booking. Dangerous free-kick, central, 50 yards out ...
22 min: ... scrambled away, but Beausejour can't find Sanchez.
24 min: Isla can't quite get on the end of Carmona's channel ball. "You 'really' know you're getting old when you confuse Rammstein with German thrash metal ..." chides Radbert Grimmig. Ponce becomes the fourth player booked for tapping the ball away. Someone's going to go here aren't they?
25 min: Grichting glances on the resultant free-kick but it drifts a yard or two wide of Bravo's goal.
26 min: Switzerland are doing a great job of nullifying their opponents at the moment. It's worth remembering that a draw would be perfect for Hitzfeld's side - victory over Honduras would then be enough for qualification, and even a defeat might be enough.
27 min: Bravo does very well as a pass-back falls short with Nkufo bearing down like an Alp.
29 min: Beasejour narrowly offside. The boisterous Chile fans let the linesman know what they think, but they need their team just to hold their runs a little more.
RED CARD! 30 min: Valon Behrami is off! It was a grapple with Beasejour, then one with Vidal. It wasn't a swinging elbow, but it was an arm in the face of the player behind him. Echoes of Keita last night as Vidal goes down, but there can't really be too much complaint.
32 min: Hmmm .. opinion will certainly be divided on that one, but with this referee, it wasn't smart from Behrami.
33 min: "What about the front-and-back-of-the-donkey race?" ponders Justin Kavanagh. "John Terry won't run unless he's at the head of England's outfit; Steven Gerrard acts as if the head is too big for him; Wayne Rooney doesn't know which part of the mule he is; and England are running around in circles with their head up their collective ..." Jara (I think) nods wide from a Chile free-kick.
34 min: Beasejour wins a free-kick, not far from the corner flag ...
35 min: ... nodded away by Nkufo as Fernandez whipped it in. Corner ball ...
36 min: ... again headed away by the Swiss backline. "The footballs they use at school sports days are the ones you can buy in your local petrol station for a couple of quid," writes Ian B. "They will fly like a Chris Waddle penalty or a Ronaldo effort with a Jabulani if you get underneath it."
37 min: Beasejour and Lichtsteiner are having a great battle on the Swiss right, the defender just getting the better of it at the moment. "I'm not sure that was a red card for Behrami (the Chilean went down very easily) - but Behrami then proceeded to fling himself to the floor like Vidal had takeb both his legs off," rages Rachel Clifton. "I agree that this ref is very whistle-happy, but when every single player on the pitch is feigning injury and chucking themselves around all the time in an effort to con the ref, you can't be surprised when it sometimes works against you. Apologies - that was rather ranty and not very funny, but I am sodding well sick of seeing 22 grown men take 3 feet at a free kick, or act like choirboys when they know they have committed a foul. It is just all so undignified..."
38 min: Chance for Suazo! But he can only get underneath a Fernandez cross and send his header sailing over the bar. He's not really impressed so far, Humberto.
40 min: And another fine chance! Beasejour wins his personal battle with Lichtsteiner on this occasion, finds Sanchez with his cross. The Udinese man chests down wonderfully, but can only stab a shot at goal, straight at Bengalio.
41 min: Frei is sacrificed (not in a pagan way) for Barnetta, a midfielder, and a decent one at that.
42 min: Barnetta's first task is to swing in a free-kick, which is headed away as far as Nkufo. His thumping strike rattles into the advertising hoardings.
44 min: "I am not watching it on TV - did Behrami try to Gore Vidal?" chuckles Billy Williamson. It's a slightly tricky one to explain for those who ddin't see it. It wasn't exactly a swinging elbow in a stitch-that kind of fashion, but he flailed his arm up there into Vidal's face. Certainly not in the Kaka-Keita league. Two minutes added time to be played.
45+1 min: Again Beausejour is the catalyst, finding Sanchez at the back post, but again his shot is claimed by Benaglio. The Swiss need half-time, an orange segment, a milky of tea in a see-through pyrex mug and time to steel themselves for a second-half onslaught.
Peeep! Half-time, and another half-time arriving with 21 players on the pitch.
Half-time email dept.
"'The boisterous Chile fans let the linesman know what they think, but they need their team just to hold their runs a little more'," writes Andrew Young. "When you have Chile, it can be very difficult to hold your runs." A bom-tish for you, sir.
"If we're doing player name-based puns now," which we're not, Adrian Cooper, we're really not, "is there any chance that the ongoing battle between Beasejour and Licht(en)stein(er) will end like
this, resulting in yet another red card?"
"I agree with Rachel Clifton," writes Derek Mee. "These guys make me sick. Fabiano and Keita are just the latest big-time offenders. I say, stop watching the football, go down to your local garage for a Jubulani and get out there yourself. Or go for a walk. Or play frisbee. Or have a drink with friends. Boycott the FIFA World Cup and don't go to matches any more until the overpaid prima donnas stop all this nonsense. I can't join you because I am in the office clicking refresh on MBM as if my life depended on it."
Half-time snack dept. Blackberries. Yes, blackberries.
In other news Roger Federer has been on the brink against Alejandro Falla. Falla was two sets up, but the world No1 has battled back. You can follow it
here (if you're not a
real football fan).
Peep! Valdivia and Gonzalez are thrown into the fray for the second half in place of ... er ... two other Chilean players. Hang on ... Suazo is off for one. And Vidal also.
DISALLOWED GOAL!!! 47 min: Jeez. Another yellow card after Barnetta tugs back Beausejour. The free-kick is rolled across to Sanchez whose shot is deflected past Benaglio. Cue wild celebrations, but three Chilean were stood offside, one of which was directly between keeper and ball and therefore had to leap over the shot.
49 min: Superb tackle from Grichting as Sanchez so nearly gets clean through. One-way traffic at the moment, though.
50 min: Another great tackle, Von Bergen this time, again as Sanchez sighted-up a shot. "Here the entire country is like a ghost town," writes the marvellously scatalogical Rafael Molina in Chile. "Ssurrealistic image... broke by every whoa! Noooooh! Here we are no happier playing against 10... heavier Swiss lock! Difficult to break down, considering the 15-20 cms difference in the height of the players. Difficult!"
52 min: Here's our very own
Jonathan Wilson: "You may well be aware of this, but if Switzerland hang on until the 68th minute, they'll break Italy's record for the longest run without conceding in World Cups, having not let in a goal in four immensely tedious games in 2006."
53 min: It's press, press, press from Chile. Valdivia can't quite find Gonzalez at the far post with his low cross. A matter of time at the moment, though, surely? Although isn't that what we said in the Spain game?
55 min: Cracking save from Benaglio, who is eclipsing Enyeama as the tournament's best keeper so far. Sanchez was through, but the Swiss keeper smother the ball at the foreward's feet. His defenders thanked him bny hoofing the ball into his face and out for a corner.
57 min: "This is going to finish 9-9," writes Mervyn Mould. "Players. This ref's fussier than a very fussy hen protecting her first clutch of chicks whilst trying to put out a chip-pan fire." Nice Sean Ingle-esque analogy. Another corner for Chile ...
58 min: ... met by Gonzalez, whose few minutes on the pitch against Honduras consisted of him shooting on goal at sight, meets the cross, but can only nod wide.
59 min: Inler booked for tripping Sanchez, Fernandez for pushing Inler afterwards. This is nonsensical. That's seven yellows and a red.
60 min: Before the free-kick can even be taken Medel gets booked for a bit of shoving in the box. This referee is a complete joke, he really is.
61 min: Replays show Medel putting an arm into Von Bergen's chest. A risky thing to do with this card-happy lunatic, but Von Bergen's reaction - very much Keita-esque - was as preditable as it was pathetic.
63 min: What's this? A Swiss attack? It is you know. Nkufo does superbly to twist and turn away from his markers, and almost puts Barnetta through. A warning, albeit a fairly mild one, for Chile.
64 min: Fernandez off, Paredes on. Another striking option for Chile.
65 min: Free-kick to Switzerland, midway inside the Chile half ... five, six players thrust forward into the box ... Ziegler's ball in would have singed the hairs on Nkufo's head (if he had any). Bravo helps it behind, but the corner comes to nothing.
66 min: Here's Rafael Molina again: "The referee is way out from the level... let my explain it politically correct: insufficient, even the people of the media, news tv, radio says the same: referre is punishing the play, and the team who controls the espectacle.. did you saw a swiss shot to the goal?"
68 min: Derdiyok - who hit the post against Spain, you'll remember - replaces Nkufo. But perhaps more importantly, Switzerland have broken that not-conceding record. Well done them.
70 min: It's been a quiet little 10-minute or so spell. Have Switzerland weathered the storm or is this the calm before it?
71 min: I'd love to see the territory percentages for this game, it must be 70-30 at least. Isla wastes a terrific position wide on the right, shanking his cross hopelessly over the bar.
72 min:Beausejour gets a couple of yards of space, but again the attack peters out. "Ignoring the ref for a moment, the kind of player theatrics we've seen over the last two days does an untold amount of harm to the development of the game here in Australia," reckons Wade in Adelaide. "The World Cup is the most soccer people here watch, and seeing the best players in the world act in such an undignified manner keeps many away from the A League and trying the game live. Add in the lack of video replays, refs not held accountable and a local media who winge about every decision against the Socceroos ... and its amazing the sport has managed to make the inroads it has lately."
GOAL! Chile 1-0 Switzerland (Gonzalez 75) At last! Paredes breaks the offisde trap thanks to a sliderule through-ball from Valdivia. He gets round Benaglio, but the anglle is just too tight. Calmly, though, he picks out Gonzalez at the back post, nodding down and over the despairing Grichting on the line. I think I speak for most of the footballing world when I say 'Get in!'
77 min: Isla picks a Swiss defender's pocket but can only poke his cross straight at the keeper. Chile are still pouring men forward like custard over a crumble. Here's Rafael Molina's view: "Finally the goal... the city goes back to the movement... even the public transport re-started to run. It was like the earthquake a silent rumble in the distance ... and the gooooooooooooooooooooool was heard!"
79 min: It's Switzerland's turn to get on the front foot, something they've not done for many of the 170 minutes they've played in this tournament so far.
80 min: "I don't think 1-0 is good enough for Chile," notes Will Jones, somewhat dampening Rafael's fire. "There's a very real chance of all three top teams in this group finishing on six points – two 1-0 wins won't do much for the old goal difference and they need to get into credit in case Spain come out and beat them."
81 min: Dangerous free-kick to Switzerland ... but the referee blows up for some shoving in the area. "Re: Wade from Adelaide. Its the same thing here in Canada," writes Mike. "They just don't seem to regard it as a valid man's sport. Although saying that the manliness bar is pretty high - I watched a hockey playoff game this year where a player ruptured his testicle and was playing the next day." Inler wins a corner ...
82 min: ... all the way across to Lichtsteiner ... who smashes the ball high, high, high into the Port Elizabeth sky.
83 min: It should be two. It really should. Paredes, clean through, wangs the Jabulani over the bar.
85 min: "I am a referee in the US, and the kids here have not caught on to the diving culture - until now," writes Paul Ellarby. "Think I hand out one yellow card per season for simulation, but I have given almost one card per game in the last two weeks for it! Sad thing is, I had a team last night with one player who was throwing himself to the ground while the team was warming up - and who do you think I gave a yellow card to during the game?" Chile break as Switzerland start to pour forward, but Gonzalez shoots wildly. Not to mention unneccessarily. He had men in support.
86 min: Another shot from Gonzalez, but his sidefoot only finds Benaglio's chest. "
Lichtsteiner takes a shot," chuckles Adrian Cooper. Again. "I'll stop now."
88 min: More loose passes from the Swiss - they just don't look comfortable when forced to make the running - and as Chile break away again Paredes somehow fails to make it 2-0. It was three on two, but he chose to cut inside and shoot himself. Wide.
A SITTER GOES BEGGING! FOR SWITZERLAND! 90 min: How did Derdiyok miss that. Great work from his team-mates down the left, and the ball finds its way to the substitute. In space. Ten yards out. Whole goal to aim at ... and a yard wide.
90+1 min: Yellow card for Valdivia for a terrible and entirely unneccessary dive. If he'd simply carried on he was clean through. Sign o' the times. Bah!
Peep! Peep! Peep! All over. A remarkable game in many ways. Chile's defensive frailties were seriously exposed in the final 10 minutes, but Switzerland couldn't take advantage.
Right, that's it from me. Thanks for all your emails. Sorry I couldn't read them all. Be sure to stick around for live coverage of Spain v Honduras later on.
Butt's questioning ended on Sunday and he has come in for lot of grilling from not only the ICC lawyers but also from the legal representatives of Amir and Asif," one source aware of the hearing developments said.
The trio were suspended by the ICC in September while touring England [ 
Posts
