Faroe Islands’ equalizer against Switzerland lasted only 3 minutes

June 04, 2005: World Cup Qualifyer, Faroe Islands - Switzerland:

Faroe Islands – Switzerland 1-3 (0-1)
0-1 Rafael Wicky ’25
1-1 Rógvi Jacobsen ’70
1-2 Alexander Frei ’73
1-3 Alexander Frei ’86

The Faroe Islands were looking to stage an upset against Switzerland when Rógvi Jacobsen equalized for 1-1 after 70 minutes, but the Faroes had barely stopped “the hugging”, when Alexander Frei restored the lead for Switzerland just 3 minutes later.

The first 20 minutes of the game had been quite even and Switzerland weren’t able to break down the Faroe Islands’ solid defense.

However, the Swiss gradually worked their way into the match and started to put more and more pressure on the Faroese defence, which resulted in several corners. And it was from one of these corners the Swiss took the lead when Rafael Wicky was left unmarked and headed the ball into the net.

After this, the Faroe Islands tried to press forward, and 25 minutes into the second half they were rewarded for their hard labour. Jónhard Frederiksberg put in a cross and the Swiss defence couldn’t clear the ball, and after 3 or 4 Faroese attempts, Rógvi Jacobsen beat keeper Pascal Zuberbühler to level the score.

But Switzerland didn’t panic and it took only 3 minutes for them to restore the lead, when Marguairaz found Akexander Frei who scored.

After this, the Faroes threw caution to the wind in search for another equalizer, but that was not to be. Instead, Switzerland scored another goal when Alexander Frei rounded Faroese keeper Jákup Mikkelsen for his second goal of the match and a 3-1 victory for Switzerland.

The Swiss coach, Köbi Kuhn, admitted after the match that he was nervous when the Faroe Islands had equalized, but was glad it wasn’t later in the game, because then the Faroes might have hold on to the draw. Now he was happy for the 3 points.

Faroe Islands coach, Henrik Larsen, was also reasonably satisfied with the performance of this team, even if they lost, but that is often to be expected when you are a small team. But he was happy for the Faroese equalizer, although they couldn’t hold on, but all in all an OK performance, he thought. He is now looking forward to the match on Wednesday, when the Faroe Islands take on Ireland, as he believes the Faroes are in with a good chance, because he doesn’t think the Irish players are as good as the Swiss…

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