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Switzerland opened their World Cup account with a point after battling their way to a tense goalless draw in their World Cup opening game against France in Stuttgart on Tuesday.

The result against their most difficult group opponents puts the Swiss in joint second place behind South Korea, who beat Togo 2-1 in an earlier match.

 

The match was a tactical battle, played at a low tempo in hot temperatures in front of a 52,000 capacity crowd at the Gottlieb-Daimler stadium.

Coach Köbi Kuhn picked a familiar side, with Marco Streller partnering Alex Frei in attack and Patrick Müller shaking off a minor injury to marshal the Swiss defence.

Switzerland started nervously, giving the ball away far too often to allow the more creative French to probe their defence with a series of precise attacks. Thierry Henry let the Swiss off the hook in the sixth minute as he headed over the bar from close range.

But the Swiss came closest to taking the lead against the run of play after half an hour of play when Tranquillo Barnetta’s free-kick evaded everyone and hit the inside of the French post.

Frei pounced on the loose ball but could only hook his shot over the bar from point blank range with the goal at his mercy.

France felt they should have had a penalty minutes later as Henry’s shot clearly struck Müller’s hand inside the penalty area, but the referee ruled that it was accidental contact.

Frank Ribéry also came dangerously close to scoring for the French and Switzerland ended the first half knowing they had to improve to stand a chance of wining the crucial match.

 

Higher pace

 

The Swiss upped the tempo after the restart with Barnetta breaking free but electing to pass when a shot would have been better.

Striker Daniel Gygax nearly broke the deadlock minutes after coming on for Streller, but he weakly directed his far post header straight at French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.

France continued to threaten with Patrick Vieira, Henry and Zidane just failing to find the target, but Switzerland’s youngsters seemed to have more energy in the closing stages.

Swiss hearts were in mouths as Vikash Dhorasoo found space in their penalty area in the dying seconds but the French substitute lashed his shot wide.

But it was Frei who came within a whisker of grabbing a dramatic, if unlikely, victory deep into injury time as he dive headfirst at full stretch to glance a Ludovic Magnin cross just the wrong side of the post.

Eight players, including five Swiss, were booked by the Russian referee.

 

Swiss satisfied

 

Swiss coach Köbi Kuhn said he was pleased with the draw.

“It makes no sense to speculate whether he won a point or failed to pick up three points. But we definitely want to win our next match against Togo.”

Thousands of Swiss fans had travelled to Stuttgart, which is not far from the Swiss border, to cheer on their team.

For his part the French manager, Raymond Domenech, admitted that he had hoped for victory against the Swiss squad.

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