Match Summary

England Team

Switzerland Team

Over 86,000 people came to Wembley for this game hoping to see a new exciting England era begin under new manager Fabio Capello.  They left reasonably happy with the win but still had lots of questions to ask.

It was a nervous start by Capello’s new charges and the confidence, after the shattering defeat by Croatia three months ago, was obviously at a low ebb.  Capello is looking to play a crisp passing game but too often players gave the ball away early on, something that made the new manager leap from the bench to remonstrate with his team.  It took a while for the players to settle to the new system, with one man up front, but gradually things improved.  The nearest England came to a goal was in the 10^th minute when Joe Cole found Wayne Rooney with a good pass only for Rooney’s shot to rebound off Diego Benaglio as the goalkeeper came out.

At the other end it was the Swiss who created the clearest chance in the 27^th minute when the clever Hakan Yakin delivered a lovely free-kick into England’s penalty area for Philippe Sendoros to head on.  In came Mario Eggimann, and the defender should have scored with his header instead of putting the ball wide of David James’s goal.  Just as the crowd were beginning to grow restless with England’s shaky performance the home players conjured up a goal out of nothing.  A fine pass to Joe Cole from Steven Gerrard started the move, in the 40th minute.  Cole then beat his marker Steven Lichsteiner before cutting back a low pass for Jermaine Jenas to stroke home his first goal for England.

The goal settled England and they were also gradually coming to grips with Capello’s demands.  The passing improved and some of the players began to shine.  David Bentley showed some skilful touches on the wing, Joe Cole was always lively and both Gareth Barry and Jenas justified their selection.

After the break England continued their improvement although there was an irritating moment on 58 minutes.  Funnily enough it came just a minute after Shaun Wright-Phillips and Peter Crouch had come on as substitutes for Jenas and Joe Cole, so whether it upset England’s concentration or not was something Capello will have noted.  As it was Switzerland scored a very nicely taken equaliser, it has to be said, against the run of play.  A superb angled pass from Tranquillo Barnetta caught out Rio Ferdinand and another substitute, the debutant Eren Derdiyok, got in behind the defender to shoot confidently past David James.

Four minutes later though England regained their deserved lead when Crouch won a ball in the air, Rooney flicked it on to Gerrard and the Liverpool midfield star put a perfect ball across the box for Wright-Phillips to score from close range.  The goal was no more than England deserved and for the remainder of the game they stayed in control and gave little away.  Bentley took advantage of his chance by catching the manager’s eye with an impressive display of ball skills and passing.  One particularly fine pass gave Crouch a chance, although he missed with his volley.

Overall it was a good start for the manager, obviously he has plenty of work to do but you can do no more than start with a win.

Source Notes

Trivia - Eren Derdiyok is the second opposition player to score on his debut this season, following Christian Pander's strike for Germany in August.

BBC Sport
TheFA.com
Reuters.com
SkySports.com
Football Line-Ups
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor
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CG