Switzerland, Austria draw before heading to Euros / Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI - AFP
Switzerland, Austria draw before heading to Euros
Switzerland and their Alpine neighbours Austria played out a 1-1 draw on Saturday in a final match before both sides head over the border to Euro 2024 in Germany.
Christoph Baumgartner put visitors Austria ahead in the fifth minute at the Kybunpark in St Gallen before Silvan Widmer levelled for the hosts in the 26th minute.
There was plenty of support for the visitors in the 18,731-strong crowd, with the stadium less than 25 kilometres from the Austrian border.
The two countries had not met since a friendly in November 2015, when Switzerland won 2-1 in Vienna.
Switzerland are ranked 19th in the world and Austria 25th.
Switzerland went into the final warm-up having beaten Estonia 4-0 at the Swissporarena in Lucerne on Tuesday, while Austria beat Serbia 2-1 in Vienna.
Switzerland coach Murat Yakin then named his 26-man squad for the Euros on Friday, retaining 18 players that went to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Veteran midfielders Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri remain the star names in the Swiss squad.
- Busy first half -
At the Kybunpark, Switzerland had most of the possession but Austria racked up more shots.
Austria were quick off the mark, capitalising on a Swiss error to score.
After Switzerland lost the ball, RB Leipzig attacking midfielder Baumgartner ran through from deep inside his own half to side-foot the ball past Switzerland's goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
For the Swiss equaliser, Ruben Vargas cut his way into the penalty box and created an angle to shoot. Heinz Lindner got down to the effort but spilt it straight into the path of Widmer, giving the Mainz right-back a tap in.
Swiss striker Steven Zuber went off injured toward the end of the first half, forcing Yakin into a premature substitution.
In the 82nd minute, Sommer, fresh from winning the Italian title with Inter Milan, did well to get down to a shot from Michael Gregoritsch.
In the European Championships, Switzerland will play Hungary on June 15, Scotland on June 19 and then hosts Germany on June 23 in Group A.
Austria are in Group D, where they face France on June 17, Poland on June 21 and the Netherlands on June 25.
Switzerland reached the quarter-finals in the 2020 European Championship, their best-ever performance in the tournament.
Austria have played in the Euro finals three times but have never reached the quarter-finals.
R.Wilson--EWJ
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