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Co-hosts burned by friendly fire

Switzerland tried to pick out any positives going from their heavy 4-0 defeat by Germany, while Austria coach Josef Hickersberger argued that "life goes on" following his team's stunning 4-3 loss to the Netherlands.

'We helped them'
The two UEFA EURO 2008™ co-hosts had an off-day in defence, with Austria conspiring to let a three-goal lead slip in Vienna and the Swiss capitulating in Basel. "Of course, we thought this would turn out differently," said Switzerland coach Jakob Kühn in the wake of his side's fourth successive reverse. "We were inferior in almost every department. We looked OK after a weak start, but individual and unforced mistakes made us look amateurish. Germany were much stronger physically, but we helped them to win."

'Harsh result'
With Alexander Frei back from injury and paired with Eren Derdiyok up front, Switzerland were hoping to improve on their run of one goal from three games, but while Frei carved out a couple of chances it was failings in defence which undermined the home side. "It was a very harsh result," insisted Bayer 04 Leverkusen midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta. "We had a good first half but lost two balls stupidly in the run-up to the second and third German goals. After that, we were done for."

Austrian collapse
In Austria's case, defensive frailties looked to have been resolved of late, with fans far more concerned about their misfiring strike department. That was certainly the problem during February's 3-0 loss to Germany, but the issue has been clouded again by Wednesday's performance. Indeed, Hickersberger's charges managed to register three strikes in the first half, only to then let the Dutch hit four. "Of course, the disappointment is huge but life goes on," said the coach. "We have to learn from the best and from our mistakes. We have now learned not to defend too deep when we are ahead."

Staying power
In the plus column, work on set-pieces paid off with Sebastian Prödl converting twice from near-identical corners. "Things don't always work out as perfectly as they did for my two goals, but of course we practiced that move in training," explained the defender. His captain Andreas Ivanschitz lamented the team's inability to maintain their great start, meanwhile: "Just a few sensational minutes are not good enough against world-class opposition." That was an opinion echoed by his coach: "Unfortunately, we cannot play good football for the full 90 minutes yet."

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