Swiss feel primed to tackle Kerr's men

Despite limping out of Euro 2004 with just one point and the suspension of Alexander Frei to contend with, some of Switzerland's leading players insisted in the wake of Monday night's defeat by France that they are in good shape to bounce back when the World Cup qualifiers get under way this autumn.

Kobi Kuhn's side turned in a brave performance against the defending champions at Coimbra's municipal stadium, but they were ultimately undone by two late goals from Thierry Henry whose contribution assured France of the top spot in Group B.

The sides will now meet again in the World Cup qualifiers when Ireland, Israel, Cyprus and the Faroe Islands will complete the line-up in Group Four of the competition.

The French, all agree, start as favourites to take the automatic qualifying place for the 2006 finals, but as they left for home, the Swiss players insisted that they are in a strong position to edge out Ireland again and join the French in Germany.

"France will be favourites, of course, but as for the rest, well, we had Ireland in our group and we beat them twice," said Basel midfielder Benjamin Huggel. "The team will change a little bit now after this tournament with the retirements of (Stephane) Chapiuisat and (Jorg) Stiel, but not in the key positions.

"We have a good, young team with players like (Johann) Vonlanthen who can show us now what it is he can do. Wayne Rooney is stronger in his body but Vonlanthen is a great young player too. He has already shown that he can make the difference with his technique.

"From that point of view it was a great experience for us to play against teams like England, Croatia and France under competitive conditions. I think being here will have helped us all to cope under the pressure we will experience in the next qualifying rounds."

Asked whether he felt the decision by Roy Keane to return to the Irish team might shift the balance between the Group Four rivals towards Brian Kerr's side, Huggel was sceptical.

"We'll see," he said. "He is a very a important player for the team, but in this qualification campaign Ireland had a very good team and they will go on playing with 11 players. It is not as if they will get to play with 12 next time.

"The game in Basel (on September 8th) will be important for both sides, but there are other teams in the group too. The young players we have are exciting (Switzerland have recently done exceptionally well in European under-17 and under-21 championships) and we believe we can do well now against all of the teams in the group.

"Even against the French, because even though we lost to them we played well and showed that over 90 minutes anything is possible. We have no reason to be scared for the future. This is a good group of players and I believe we can make it next time."

Huggel's fellow midfielder, Ricardo Cabanas, conceded that the Irish would travel to Basel with additional motivation after last year's rather dismal performance.

"Naturally it will be difficult," he said. "They have a point to prove, but we showed against France for 75 minutes what we can do, that we can compete on this level. In the end, they were fresher and the second goal decided it, but with the players we have coming through I feel we can look forward to the next qualifiers."

Frei, meanwhile, now looks certain to miss the game against the Republic of Ireland in Basel after being suspended for spitting at Steven Gerrard in last week's 3-0 defeat by Sven Goran Eriksson's men. Swiss football federation officials have now openly criticised the 24-year-old Rennes striker for misleading them ahead of the original hearing into the incident, and the player looks set to be banned for five competitive games when the case is heard in full by UEFA's disciplinary panel next month.

Meanwhile, Portugal defender Paulo Ferreira is leaving Porto to join former coach Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, the Portuguese champions said in a stock market statement yesterday. The Champions League winners said they had sold the 25-year-old's rights to the London club for €20 million.

Porto and Portugal midfielder Deco said last week he was close to agreeing to join Chelsea.