March 20, 2007
 On
Thursday March 22 at 6:15pm (Jamaica time), Jamaica will play
against Switzerland in their first ever encounter whether friendly
or competitive. Currently ranked 14th in the World, Switzerland
has a long footballing history.
After winning silver at the 1924
Olympics in Paris, Switzerland’s best football performances
include reaching the quarter-finals in the FIFA World Cup in 1934,
1938 and when the country hosted the event in 1954.
In 2006, Switzerland set a FIFA
World Cup record by being eliminated from the competition despite
not conceding a goal in any of their four matches. In addition,
Switzerland set a World Cup record by failing to score a single
goal in a penalty shootout.
Switzerland has had only three
(3) international encounters since October, all of them losses.
Their recent record of performance includes losses to Austria,
Brazil and Germany. The Austrians and Brazilians defeated the
Swiss 2-1 on October 11 and November 15 respectively in 2006.
Switzerland then suffered a 3-1 defeat to Germany, 2006 FIFA World
Cups hosts and 3rd place finishers on February 7, 2007.
Switzerland is coached by Jakob "Köbi"
Kuhn. Born October 12, 1943 in Zurich, Coach Kuhn is a Swiss
football manager and former player. During his playing career he
got 63 caps for Switzerland and played most of his career for FC
Zurich. He also played one match for the Swiss national team in
the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England.
Appointed manager for the Swiss
U-21 team some time after retiring from national duty, he was
promoted to coach the senior national team in June 2001, replacing
the Argentine Enzo Trossero. He has led the Swiss to the Euro 2004
and the second round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Technical Director Velibor
Milutinovic welcomed the match up against a higher ranked team and
insisted that such encounters were necessary for the team to get
better and learn. While in Ft. Lauderdale the tem will train at
5:00pm on Tuesday, March 20 and Wednesday, March 22 at the game
venue, Lockhart Stadium.
In keeping with the recently
signed agreement between Sportsmax and co-partner CVM TV and the
JFF, the match will be shown live on Sportsmax and delayed on CVM.
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