Wayne Rooney rode to England’s rescue and into the history books with an inspirational double that sank Switzerland and made him the youngest player to score in a Euro finals.
Steven Gerrard completed a convincing 3-0 win although it was not until after Switzerland were reduced to ten men for the final half hour that England made the game safe.
Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side now know a draw against Croatia will be enough to see them into the quarter-finals and the Swede was clearly relieved to draw a line under the trauma of England’s last gasp defeat by France in their opening match.
”We needed that win,” Eriksson acknowledged. ”With the way we lost the last game you never know what the reaction will be like mentally.”
England were not as sure-footed as they had been for the regulation 90 minutes against the French and things may have been very different if Switzerland had made more of their early pressure and particularly the free header that striker Alexander Frei directed wide of the post.
Four minutes later a Gerrard surge opened up the Swiss defence and Rooney finished off a Michael Owen chip with a close-range header to give England a lead that, given the sweltering heat, made life extremely difficult for the Swiss.
”We started slowly — the Swiss played better than us in the first half,” Eriksson recognised.
”We lost badly on Sunday and we weren’t as relaxed as we should have been here. We weren’t keeping hold of the ball well, the players weren’t moving well.
”But in the second half we got better and better with every minute and the second goal of Wayne’s killed the game off.”
England were given cause for concern by the anonymity of Paul Scholes and Michael Owen but Eriksson preferred to accentuate the positive by highlighting the outstanding performances of Rooney and Gerrard, both of whom are being increasingly strongly linked with post-tournament moves to Chelsea.
”Wayne’s got fantastic talent. He played well against France, and better today. At 18, he’s incredible. I hope it goes on like that at this tournament and after.
”As for Steven, for me he’s an incredible player — the complete midfielder. You can put him on the left, the right or in the centre — he has everything as a football player.”
Swiss coach Jakob Kuhn joined in the eulogising of Rooney. ”It was a pleasure to see him in this game, even though he was playing for England and not us.”
But Kuhn was less happy with the performance of Russian referee Valentin Ivanov, who reduced Switzerland to ten men for their second match here by sending off defender Bernt Haas on the hour mark.
”I would not mind playing England again, as long as it is 11 against 11 instead of 10 against 12.”
A convincing win for England had not looked on the cards as Switzerland asked the more serious questions in the opening exchanges.
Twice in the first quarter of an hour the left boot of Hakan Yakin sent dangerous inswinging free-kicks into the six-yard box, forcing Sol Campbell to head clear over his own bar.
With both John Terry and Frank Lampard fortunate to escape bookings for fouls on Stephane Chapuisat and Alexander Frei respectively, it was not just the 30-degree temperature that was making England feel the heat.
Rooney did receive a yellow card after catching Swiss goalkeeper Jorg Stiel as he chased Lampard’s pass into the box.
A minute later, Frei spurned Switzerland’s best chance after a good run and cross by left-back Christoph Spycher.
The let-off appeared to galvanise England into the switch of tempo that led to their opening goal.
It was one of Gerrard’s trademark forward surges to the right hand edge of the Swiss box that laid the foundations. Gerrard’s good work and a neat touch from Gary Neville created the opening for David Beckham to fire a pinpoint cross to Owen beyond the back post.
Owen duly drew two Swiss defenders out of position before chipping the ball to Rooney, who was left with the simplest of headed finishes from close range.
England were briefly dominant in the wake of the goal but it was the Swiss who finished the half the stronger.
After a strong run to the edge of the area, Frei might have done better than hit his shot straight at David James and the England goalkeeper was equally relieved to see Hakan Yakin’s effort curl narrowly wide after Lampard conceded an indirect free-kick 20 yards out.
Switzerland picked up where they left off after the interval, midfielder Raphael Wicky flashing a shot narrowly wide.
But after Haas was ordered off, the sapping effect of the late afternoon heat took its toll and England tightened their grip on the match.
Any doubt about the outcome disappeared 15 minutes from the end after Owen Hargreaves hoisted a clearance from the edge of his own area deep into Swiss territory.
Substitute Darius Vassell was first to the bouncing ball, which he held up long enough for Rooney to arrive and crash a fierce low drive into the net courtesy of a double ricochet off the post and the back of Stiel.
Gerrard completed a morale-boosting win with eight minutes left after Gary Neville ran on to Beckham’s astute pass and sent in a low cross. Gerrard did the rest by squeezing a side-footed shot between Stiel and the post from an acute angle. – Sapa-AFP