Switzerland began their preparations for the summer’s FIFA World Cup in Russia on a positive note, beating Greece 1-0 in a friendly at the Athens Olympic Stadium on Friday night.
The match was off to a very scrappy start, with neither sides being able to settle into their rhythm. The first opportunity of the game fell to the hosts, when Konstantinos Fortounis’s right-footed effort just fizzed past the post. Vladimir Petkovic’s Swiss side had two decent chances halfway through the half but Blerim Dzemaili and Remo Freuler failed to make them count.
With half-time looming large, Greece’s main striker Kostas Mitroglou saw his shot blocked off before Switzerland came ever so close to open the scoring through Breel Embolo. The Schalke youngster capitalized on an error from the experienced Sokratis Papastathopoulos to waltz inside the box and take an aim at the Greek goal, but only managed to hit the upright as the stalemate remained at half-time.
The second period too began in very much a similar fashion to the first period, with both the hosts and the visitors struggling to create a meaningful opportunity to try and break the deadlock. However, 14 minutes after the restart, Switzerland finally managed to find a way to breach the goal as Dzemaili struck a bicycle kick to hit home Haris Seferovic’s cross and give La Nata the lead.
Former #IMFC midfielder Blerim Džemaili scored the only goal in today's friendly as #Switzerland won 1-0 vs #Greece. Plenty of time and space in the box, but still a very nice overhead kick! #GRESUI #MLS ??? pic.twitter.com/fZRWRkiiE4
— Jason Foster (@JogaBonito_USA) March 23, 2018
Both the sides rung in the changes soon after the goal, with Greece hoping to make a comeback while the Swiss were looking to kill the game off. Substitute Mario Gavranovic came close on a couple of occasions to doubling Switzerland’s lead but was denied by the Greeks. Dzemaili too had another pop at goal, but his headed effort drifted wide of the post.
With fifteen minutes left on the clock, Greece were presented with a great chance to get back on level terms, when Konstantinos Fortounis was found inside the box by substitute Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, but the attacking midfielder only managed to fire his shot high over the crossbar.
The game petered out from thereon, with neither teams showing any sort of adventure going forward, which suited Switzerland perfectly, as they registered their sixth win over Greece in 12 fixtures.
