Cupset! Swiss Find Holes In Spain's Invincibility
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 5:58PM 
In-Flight Satellite
Shows Switzerland's
Shocker Over Spain
By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season
HIGH ABOVE AMERICA -- Thanks to the miracle of in-flight satellite television, I was able to watch live Wednesday as Switzerland pulled off easily the biggest upset of the World Cup's first round of group matches.
(The green screens you see on the seatbacks pictured above are evidence that plenty of passengers were watching the Cup when not dozing off.)
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After drifting in and out of sleep in seat 22A for the first couple hours of my flight to San Francisco -- and missing almost all of Chile's 1-0 domination of Honduras -- I was fully awake for only the final 15 or 20 minutes of Wednesday's second match between Switzerland and Cup co-favorite Spain. But what a stretch it was for the Swiss, who held off one Spanish attack after another to preserve the 1-0 shocker.
(Billie Jean King was on my flight. That's her to the right.)
"(Switzerland) defended incredibly," ESPN Cup analyst Alexi Lalas would say after the game. "The tournament needed something like this."
Though the Swiss did indeed play some stellar defense, it was impressive how they weren't afraid to attack some on offense in the closing stages as well. I'm no soccer expert, but to me it hardly looked like a conservative late effort by the winners, as some upset-minded teams are content to put forth. Switzerland kept its foot on the gas until the final whistle was blown after more than five minutes of stoppage time. In both the 82nd and 83rd minutes, the Swiss almost converted separate chances to really salt the game away, but recovered well to thwart the late counters by the Spaniards.
One who is an expert is OGS Group H specialist Jake Yadrich, who, like everybody, expected an easy Spanish victory, but added that if Switzerland had any chance, it would have to be because of coaching. And for the short period I watched, the Swiss looked very disciplined and overall well-managed.
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