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Wales vs Switzerland. European Championship Qualifying Group G.

Millennium StadiumAttendance12,317.

Wales 2

  • A Ramsey (60th minute pen)
  • G Bale (71st minute)

Switzerland 0

  • R Ziegler (sent off 55th minute)

Wales overcome Swiss

Wales continued their recent resurgence in form with a confident 2-0 win over Switzerland at the Liberty Stadium.

Ramsey and Bale on the scoresheet in convincing win

Wales continued their recent resurgence in form with a confident 2-0 win over Switzerland at the Liberty Stadium that lifted them off the foot of Group G. Steve Morison had the best chance for Wales in the first half but all the key decisions would occur after the break. Switzerland had already had a goal disallowed and Wales had a penalty shout turned down by the time Reto Ziegler was shown a straight red card for a late challenge on Chris Gunter after 55 minutes. Then, five minutes later, referee Bjorn Kuipers did award Wales a penalty after Timm Klose had tripped Gunter in the box. Captain Aaron Ramsey despatched the spot-kick to give Wales the lead. Gary Speed's men sealed the game with 18 minutes left when Bale ran onto Morison's pass and stroked the ball into the bottom corner to ensure they ended their home qualifying campaign with a flourish. Wales boss Gary Speed had handed Swansea midfielder Joe Allen a first international start at his home ground with Craig Bellamy returning from suspension. Allen's inclusion, and that of club mates Ashley Williams and Neil Taylor, gave Swansea three players in a Wales starting XI for the first time since 1982. Switzerland gave a debut to Basle midfielder Fabian Frei with Klose being partnered in defence by Steve von Bergen after Fulham's Philippe Senderos was a late withdrawal. And Cesena defender Von Bergen's first contribution was to earn a yellow card for a poor tackle on Morison. Klose then gave away a needless corner and it almost proved costly, but Darcy Blake wasted a free header after being picked out by Bellamy. Despite that chance the visitors, with Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka looking lively, had much the better of the opening exchanges, looking assured in possession and starving Wales of the ball. But the hosts looked a threat on the break with the pace of Bale and Bellamy proving a menace. Bellamy was off-target with two efforts from the edge of the box before a poor first touch meant Ramsey failed to pick out the Liverpool man in acres of space in the Swiss box. Wales' best chance yet arrived after 37 minutes as Bale's ball into the box picked out Morison, who expertly beat Klose but saw his shot diverted over the crossbar by Benaglio. Switzerland responded with their best effort as skipper Gokhan Inler's low drive flashed just wide of the post with an unsighted Wayne Hennessey stranded. Frei then saw his on-target effort deflected wide as Hitzfeld's side finished the half strongly. The Swiss thought they had grabbed the opener just five minutes after the restart as Shaqiri's free-kick was bundled in by Eren Derdiyok, but the Bayer Leverkusen forward was ruled to have been offside. It was then the hosts' turn to feel hard done by as Bale appeared to be felled by Klose as he raced into the box, but the appeals were waved away by referee Kuipers. The Dutch official was again the centre of attention in the 54th minute as he showed Ziegler a straight red card after the left-back had gone into a challenge on Gunter with his stud's showing. Wales soon had another penalty shout turned away from the resulting free-kick as Blake appeared to be bundled over as he battled to reach Bale's inswinging delivery. But it proved to be third time lucky on the hour mark as Klose's clumsy challenge on Gunter saw Kuipers point to the spot and Ramsey's low effort could not be kept out by Benaglio. And victory was sealed in the 71st minute as Morison passed between two flat-footed defenders to find Bale in space. The winger raced in on goal and made no mistake as he shot left-footed past Benaglio.
Wales Team Statistics Switzerland
2 Goals 0
0 1st Half Goals 0
7 Shots on Target 2
9 Shots off Target 4
4 Blocked Shots 6
7 Corners 11
13 Fouls 11
1 Offsides 2
1 Yellow Cards 2
0 Red Cards 1
83.6 Passing Success 83.7
9 Tackles 14
88.9 Tackles Success 85.7
46.8 Possession 53.2
48.4 Territorial Advantage 51.6
402 Total Passes 443
18 Total Crosses 32
126 Lost Balls 138
48 Recoveries 40

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