Meeting a Swiss Star in Amsterdam



The Swiss did not qualify for EURO 2012 for 3 reasons:

1) in matches in Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Wales, they scored zero goal

2) the coach did not rebuild the team right after the World Cup and

3) for a long time, the captain of the team created tension and division within the team

so for the next 10 months, the Swiss have only friendly games to look forward to. First friendly game was against Holland, the number 2 team in the world.



I went to Amsterdam last Friday to see this match. I bought the most expensive seat possible from the Swiss Federation and before the game, the camera woman put me on the big screen several times.



The Swiss played well and held Holland to a 0-0 draw. They already beat the number 1 team in the world, Spain, in last year's World Cup and they played England at Wembley to a 2-2 draw early this year.

From my seat, I was very close to the players. But I wanted to get closer. I could not find where the Swiss team was sleeping in Amsterdam but I did find out where they were going to train the next morning.

So on Saturday, I went there early to wait for the Swiss players. It was a big park and there was supposed to be a sportsground. I found the park but I could not find the sportsground.

I spent more than one hour walking around the whole park. I was so disappointed. I gave up and went to the stamps market to look for some dutch soccer stamps. At least here, I was successful. I found stamps of van der Vaart and Kuyt as well as a stamp of that famous wizard.

  

The next day, I left Amsterdam. The Swiss team was also leaving Amsterdam but their flight was around noon (to Luxembourg for the next friendly game) and mine was before 10 AM (back to Zurich.) So no chance of meeting the team at the airport.

As I walked toward my gate, somehow my soccer radar told me to turn around. I did and I saw the Swiss Star Innocent Emeghara. He was walking very slowly. I stopped and chatted with him.



We spoke about his injury (inflammation of the left foot) and about his learning french. I said to him 'Innocent, we miss you at Grasshoppers!' and his facial expression and his reply (Grasshoppers, uh?) left me in no doubt that Innocent does not miss Grasshoppers.

We also spoke about the game against Holland. He agreed with my view that the Swiss plays well against the top teams but it is against the smaller countries that they have troubles with motivation.

for the WC 2014 in Brasil, the Swiss is in the same group with Norway, Slovenia, Cyprus, Albania, and Iceland. They will need to change their mindset if they want to go to Brasil.

Next week, the Swiss will face Luxembourg and early next year, Argentina comes to Bern. Let's see which game the players will be motivated for. I hope the answer is Luxembourg.