11 Jul 2014

Swiss and Germans battle in barn burner

Zurich, Switzerland was the host for the high-scoring friendly between the two European beach soccer rivals

The Swiss beach soccer national team hosted Germany for a friendly match on Wednesday in Zurich. The game was played in front of a raucous home crowd and they were treated with an 18 goal scorcher and a win, as the hosts won 10-8.

The match did not begin with a flurry of goals but the end result was just that, laden with goals. The Swiss star, Noel Ott, continued his strong play of late and scored the first goal of the game. Switzerland added one more in the frame and the score was 2-0 at the first break. The flood gates opened in the middle frame as 11 goals were scored, five from the Swiss and six from the Germans. Both teams exchanged punches and there was never more than one goal separating them after Kniller of Germany commenced the scoring. Facing a late period deficit the two most talented Swiss strikers, Ott and Stankovic, combined to score the periods´ final two goals and give their side the 7-6 lead going into the final frame.

The groundwork had been laid for a dramatic final period and Switzerland was not comfortable with the slim margin. They came out firing in an attempt to take the air out of the German attack. Leu scored for the Swiss but Germany would not be put away that easy and scored twice in the final period to keep matters close but in the end, when only up by one goal, Ott scored his third of the match to secure the victory, 10-8.

A great beach soccer foundation and the ever expanding power of the sport paved the way for another friendly match that was played between the Switzerland Futures team, the up and coming stars for the Swiss, and Team Kosovo. The home team of promising Swiss players won 10-3. The Switzerland National Team will also be playing two more friendly matches against Hungary next week, though in Basel.