Boumsong warns of threat

By European Football
October 5 2005

Newcastle United and French defender Jean-Alain Boumsong was speaking ahead of the clash between Switzerland and France on Saturday.

You don’t often connect the words Threat and Switzerland very easily, a nation whose sole contribution to the world wide arms race, consists of a pen-knife, does not seem somehow threatening.

No it’s a nation of chalets, mountains, goats and the occasional Heidi, the most threatening thing to usually spring from Switzerland is an aggressive yodeller wearing Lederhosen.

But Jean-Alain Boumsong says has identified another ahead of Saturday’s make or break game for both countries and that threat is Rennes striker Alexander Frei.

Frei may have struggled to find the net in Ligue 1 this season but Boumsong will not be underestimating him.

"It doesn't mean anything that Frei hasn't scored for a while and says he's not playing well," Boumsong insisted. "Strikers like him need just a second to score.

"We'll have to be very careful, and it's easier for a forward to get himself out of a hole than it is for a defender.

"When a defender makes four or five mistakes, everyone remembers it for a long time, but as soon as a striker scores everyone forgets that he hasn't done it for five matches."

"If we win we'll be through, but we shouldn't let ourselves get too excited because if we don't there'll be a lot of disappointment.

"Having said that, if we only pick up a draw it means we don't control our destiny anymore. So we have to go to Switzerland with the goal of collecting all three points.

"We can't just go crazy in the first five minutes, though. We have to focus on using the ball well because Switzerland can beat any team in the world on their day."