The spectators at the game between Switzerland and Portugal at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium near Manchester see two completely different halves and a furious final phase in which the Portuguese, who came up for Russia, scraped a sensational comeback by a hair's breadth.
Despite an early double strike, the Swiss footballers missed a successful start to the European Championships in England. Coach Nils Nielsen's team in Leigh couldn't get more than 2-2 (2-0) against Portugal, despite a long lead, and after a furious final phase they were even able to celebrate the draw. Both teams still meet defending champions Netherlands and Sweden in the strong group C.
Coumba Sow (2nd) and Rahel Kiwic (5th) brought the Swiss, who went down 7-0 against Germany in the test in Erfurt on June 24, on course early on in their only second appearance at the European Championship. However, the Portuguese, who had only just advanced to the finals after Russia's exclusion, increasingly took control of the game after falling behind and rewarded themselves in the second half. First Diana Gomes (58th) scored from a corner to connect, then Jessica Silva (65th) scored the deserved equalizer from close range. In the closing stages, both teams missed good opportunities to score the winning goal.
"In a group like ours, it's incredibly important that we get at least a point in the first game. If we lose the first game, it will be very difficult to get through the group," Swiss coach Nielsen said before the game his Portuguese colleague Francis Neto had probably hoped for more from the start. "Our goal is to do better than in 2017," he said. In their European Championship debut five years ago, the Portuguese women scored four points and were eliminated in the preliminary round.
Switzerland had clearly lost the last two tests before the finals. The bankruptcy against Germany was followed by a 0:4 against the English. After the draw against Portugal at the start, the disappointment in Germany's neighbor was great. "The Nati destroyed their dream start at the European Championships," headlined the newspaper "Blick", while the SRF warned that from now on you have to convince "over the full distance".
