Basel (08-09-2014)

Switzerland 0 – 2 England (European Championship Qualifier), 8^th September 2014

Pounds Sterling (£311-81)

Bottled water: £1-99

Tea at Manc airport: £1-75

Manchester-Airport train ticket: £8-20

Match ticket: £39-45

Plane tickets: £246-95

Travel insurance: £8-93

Overseas card fees: £4-54

Swiss Francs (CF124-45) circa £82

Kit-Kat: CF2

Towel use: CF2

Bus to Basel centre: CF4-20

Fruit & sausage roll: CF6-65

Hostel: CF 97-60

Burger & drink at ground: CF12

Euros (at Brussels airport) (E22.45) circa £17

Mint tea: E3

Tea & ciabatta: E10-25

Water: E2-50

Smoothie: E5-20

Chewing gum: E1-50

Total = £410-81

I’ve had a long-held ambition to go to an England away game, and was delighted when I landed a ticket for the first Euro 2016 qualifier in Basel. The only down-side was that this came very soon after the summer holidays, so my bank balance is now feeling the effects of all this travelling. For posterity, I have recorded all the costs above, split up between Euros, Swiss Francs and Pounds. It makes interesting reading – all in all it cost around £410.

 

After a smooth evening flight from Manchester airport to Basel, I hopped onto the very efficient 50 bus into the centre, and easily found my hostel in the winding streets near the River Rhine. I had a breakfast in the hostel (a fairly basic meal of bread, cheese, butter and coffee), and then explored the city. First I headed East along the banks of the river and found an athletics-cum-football stadium for a photo, and then wandered back in to the centre. On my travels I located BSC Old Boys’ ground, very close to the city’s zoo. After a brief rest at the hostel, I decided to find St Jakob Park stadium, and managed to get lost in a nearby park, before finally finding my way back. The outside was nothing like a stadium, and more resembled a car park – in fact the ground had a shopping centre attached.

 

When I came back later – the ground was a short walk from the hostel – the atmosphere was building outside the stadium. What I found most noticeable was the camaraderie between the England fans, which I’d not seen at Wembley games in the past. It may have also reflected the fact that many had been enjoying Swiss beer all day! On entry to the stadium, I was padded down by a steward and managed to get my photo taken just outside the turnstile. It was all friendly enough and not what I had expected from an England away game (in a good way). I should also mention that I had also got a programme for free, so that was one less cost on an expensive trip. I did wonder why the stewards were chuckling as they handed it over, until I read it, and of course, it was all in the French and German. I was in the lower tier of the away section, near the back row and about 2 seats from the home fans. As flags from all manner of clubs were put up on advertising hoardings and the pitch barrier, a great atmosphere was building. Reading, Stevenage Borough and Coventry were there – plus I had seen one from Workington in the city centre earlier.

The game was open and one of the best away England performances for some time. This is exactly the response we needed after a dismal World Cup. Rooney was seeing plenty of the ball and really seemed to be leading from the front. Fabian Delph was like a terrier in midfield, though his over-exuberance resulted in a yellow card, and he was lucky to escape a second punishment. The biggest area of concern was England’s left side (an Achilles heel in Brazil), where Switzerland seemed to find it easy to penetrate and create openings. This may have been partly because Baines and Stones were being encouraged to push forward down either wing. It was looking very level, and the home side looked like a decent team, producing a superb save from Hart on 33 minutes. He is a keeper who I have a lot of time for, though I’m not sure if he is quite at the top level yet. Before the break, Rooney forced a save from the Swiss keeper, which took us into 0-0 at half-time.

 

We started the second-half on the back foot to be honest. The Swiss had clearly seen weaknesses on both England flanks, and for a while they had us pinned back inside our own half. We shouldn’t forget this is a team who ran Argentina very close in the World Cup. Hart was terrific, and kept us in the game with a finger-tip save, and I began to wonder if this was going to be a time for a tough rear-guard action. Then, out of almost nothing, we broke away down the field, and Rooney put a perfect pass into the box for Welbeck to make it 1-0. The move was very like the Sturridge goal against Italy. The fans were delighted, and I couldn’t believe we were leading in such a crucial game. Switzerland were not to be put off, and very nearly grabbed an equaliser but were denied thanks to Cahill’s goal-line clearance. They continued to pour forward, but without the earlier penetration. Phil Jones made several excellent tackles, but on reflection it was probably because he had got himself into such a pickle in the first place. Then, just as the game was beginning to slow up, another swift counter-attack resulted in Lambert setting up Welbeck for his second of the game. 2-0 and this was a fine result for England, Welbeck and Hodgson, who have taken a fair hammering in recent months. I was absolutely over the moon to be able to see our best competitive away win for a long, long time.