Barnetta has stopped England from cementing their top spot in the group G when he scored a double yesterday at the Wembley where Switzerland held Fabio Capello’s side in a 2-2 draw. The visitors could have left London even with a win hadn’t they lost pace after scoring the first two goals. Barnetta scored the two goals within three minutes, but the Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side were unable to keep the advantage until the end. Lampard cut the deficit to one goal two minutes after Swiss’s second one, while Young leveled the score early in the second part, minutes after being introduced.
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Bent provided the miss of the match. England’s striker failed to score the winner despite having the goal at his mercy with 20 minutes remaining. The game started with bad news for the Italian manager who was forced to make an early change after Cole got injured. Leighton Baines replaced the Chelsea left defender in the 32nd minute. Switzerland then won a free-kick 25 yards out which Barnetta fired it over the wall and into the far post for an unforeseeable opener. The ball travelled over the crowded box, while keeper Hart could only watch the ball rolling in.
Barnetta completed his double just three minutes later following another free-kick, including a huge mistake from Milner who left the wall, allowing thus the striker to fire it through the free path and into the near post to the dismay of Hart tried to make the safe using his feet. But England broke back immediately through Lampard. Wilshere’s superb action was stopped by Djourou inside the box, gifting the home side a clear penalty the Chelsea co-captain converted under keeper Benaglio. Swiss’s defender was then cautioned by the referee with a yellow card, the first of the meeting. Behrami followed him ten minutes later for a tough challenge on Milner.
Ashley Young replaced Lampard at the half time, in what proved to be an inspired move. The newly-introduced resuscitated England scoring a superb goal just six minutes after being introduced. England developed a tremendous action on the let which involved Milner, Baines and Young. Milner played the second one on the edge of the box who fed Young with a chest-pass for a low screamer into the far post. Hitzfeld then replaced Behrami with Blerim Dzemaili, risking almost everything for three points. Switzerland, too, neared the victory, but neither Derdiyok, nor Xhaka was able to score a third one. But nor did England, despite dominating the last minutes and missing a couple of golden chances through Bent and Milner.
The first one missed the greatest chance of the day, firing a shot just over the bar in the 72nd minute, though having the goal at his mercy. Benaglio’s poor save highlighted the striker who ‘refused’ to give his side three golden points. The two coaches made a couple of more changes in the 75th minute, one apiece. The German introduced Admir Mehmedi for ineffectual Derdiyok, while Capello replaced Walcott with Stewart Downing.
Rio Ferdinand also got booked for a clumsy foul on Mehmedi in what could have been a real threat for the English. The Untied defender stopped the Swiss on the edge of the box in what could have also been a penalty hadn’t he interposed early. Hitzfeld made a late change, introducing Emeghara for Barnetta in what was a time-wasting move. Anyway, the final whistle came as England remain first with the same number of points as Montenegro, 11. On the other side Switzerland are third with five points, the same as Bulgaria. Wales are bottom with zero points in four games.
Said a disappointed John Terry: “We were after the result today which we clearly didn’t get, so we are walking away very disappointed. They weren’t particularly good free-kicks, either of them, so it is disappointing from a team point of view… It is not about individuals making mistakes. We are out there as a team and we win together and lose together.”
England – Hart; Johnson, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole; Lampard, Parker, Wilshere; Milner, Walcott, Bent. Reserves: A. Young, S. Downing, L. Baines, B. Zamora, G. Barry, P. Jagielka, R. Green.
Switzerland – Benaglio; Lichtsteiner, Djourou, Senderos, Ziegler; Inler, Behrami, Barnetta, Shaqiri, Xhaka; Derdiyok. Reserves: B. Dzemaili, A. Mehmedi, I. Emeghara, G. Fernandes, S. Von Bergen, M. Wolfli, X. Margairaz.
