Germany sweep past Switzerland

Switzerland 0-4 Germany
Germany confirmed their status among the UEFA EURO 2008™ favourites as they beat co-hosts Switzerland in style in Basel.

Losing run
Switzerland, who will play all their Group A games at St. Jakob-Park, went into this match on a run of three friendly defeats. That number became four after Miroslav Klose opened the scoring in the first half, Mario Gómez added two more following the interval, and substitute Lukas Podolski also struck to improve on Germany's 3-0 win in Austria last month.

Frei return
Home coach Jakob Kuhn took advantage of Alexander Frei's return after a year out injured to switch to two up front with Eren Derdiyok the other forward. But most of the attacking came at the other end and, in contrast to Germany's slow start against Austria, Klose just failed to connect with a Michael Ballack cross and Bastian Schweinsteiger tried his luck from distance, all in the first two minutes.

Pressure tells
Eventually the pressure told in the 23rd minute. Gómez latched on to Schweinsteiger's through ball and crossed low in front of goal; Switzerland goalkeeper Diego Benaglio could only parry and Klose tucked in the rebound. Frei nearly equalised on the half-hour but headed Philippe Senderos's cross into Jens Lehmann's arms, while the striker's free-kick zipped past the target just before the break.

Germany stride on
Gómez was next on the scoresheet shortly after the hour mark with a neat shot, having been set up superbly by Clemens Fritz. Podolski had his first goal attempt soon after his introduction but it was Gómez who made it 3-0 with a strike from just inside the box. The hard-working Podolski was rewarded late on when he was sent clean through and held his nerve to complete the victory. Belarus and Serbia visit Germany in late May while Switzerland will aim to turn their form around against Slovakia and Liechtenstein before the finals begin on 7 June.