Czechs left flat and flattered with Cech cursing the balls

Group A
Switzerland 0
Czech Republic 1

* Sverkos 70

* Dominic Fifield in Basle
* The Guardian,
* Monday June 9, 2008

The Czechs have been warned. A side that scintillated en route to the semi-finals four years ago have begun this year's tournament with a stutter, their narrow victory failing to disguise a troublingly disjointed display. Portugal await on Wednesday. "A performance like that wouldn't be good enough to beat them," admitted Jan Koller. Improvement is needed in Geneva.

Sides often start championships slowly, plucking fortunate wins from an early mishmash, and build up momentum as they progress - the French at the last World Cup spring to mind - though the suspicion nags that this may be a finals too far for some of the Czechs' key personnel. Switzerland, as exuberant hosts, were left deflated by defeat on Saturday but it was their opponents who had spent much of the opening fixture gasping.

Shorn of Pavel Nedved and the injured Tomas Rosicky, Karel Bruckner's midfield offered only occasional flashes of invention. Koller, at 35, was isolated and peripheral. The veteran will retire upon his side's elimination and there was relief etched across his brow when his coach hauled him from the fray. Vaclav Sverkos duly plundered the only goal with one of their two shots on target after taking advantage of a horribly ragged defensive back-line. "Taking me off was a great decision," added Koller with brutal honesty.

Good fortune will take a side only so far and, while there was endeavour to admire in the Czechs' defending, it was Petr Cech who kept them afloat. The Chelsea goalkeeper, like many of his counterparts, has bemoaned the tournament ball's treacherous swerve and, at times, was discomforted when it veered in the air here. Yet he still boasts an aura of invincibility that undermines attackers from the outset.

Cech was generous in his praise for other keepers at this tournament. Italy's Gianluigi Buffon, he said, was "the best in the world", Iker Casillas was "a key player for Spain and brilliant for Real Madrid", and "what more can I say about Edwin van der Sar with Holland?" Yet the 26-year-old can surpass all comers, particularly if his team raise their collective game. "We didn't retain the ball well enough and it kept coming back at us," he conceded. "We'll have to use it better against Portugal. They will punish us, so we have to improve."

The Swiss players bemoaned Roberto Rosetti's refusal to award them a penalty, Tomas Ujfalusi having handled Marco Streller's flick in the area. Rosetti's oversight did not go unnoticed with the big screens replaying the incident to whip up the supporters' sense of injustice, much to Uefa's annoyance. He was pelted with rubbish from the stands as he retreated down the tunnel at the end.

The previous hosts, Portugal, lost their opening game four years ago and went on to reach the final but Kobi Kuhn's side do not boast their pedigree. What real bite they have in attack has been blunted with confirmation that their captain, the Borussia Dortmund forward Alexander Frei, will miss the remainder of the tournament after sustaining medial ligament damage just before half-time in a challenge with Zdenek Grygera. He left the pitch in floods of tears; the Swiss have had their Paul Gascoigne moment.

Kuhn claimed the loss of his country's leading goalscorer was "a disaster". "I'm so disappointed for Alex," said Cech, who played alongside Frei at Rennes. "He doesn't deserve that."

Nor does the head coach. Kuhn departed the stadium immediately after the game to return to his wife's bedside in a Zurich hospital where she has been put into an artificial coma after suffering an epileptic fit last week. That put this defeat into proper perspective.

Man of the match Petr Cech (Czech Republic)

Taken from the Guardian/Observer