Swiss beat alpine football rivals

Switzerland have beaten Austria 1-0 in a football friendly less than a month before the start of their qualifying campaign for Euro 2012.

Substitute Moreno Costanzo from Young Boys Bern scored two minutes into his international debut in the 73rd minute in Klagenfurt, Austria.

Midfielder Costanzo, who replaced Hakan Yakin, volleyed the ball past goalkeeper Christian Gratzei after poor defending.

That came after captain Christian Fuchs had missed Austria’s best chance when his penalty in the 64th minute was saved by Swiss keeper Diego Benaglio.

Switzerland dominated possession for most of the match but failed to convert several first-class scoring chances.

Earlier in the day Switzerland received less good news when it was announced defender Philippe Senderos would miss most of the season after rupturing an Achilles tendon.

“It’s an unbelievable setback for Philippe, a terrible blow for him, his club [Fulham] but also for the national team,” Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said.

The Swiss have one more friendly, against Australia on September 3, before their first qualifying match for Euro 2012 against England four days later.

The teams on Wednesday: Switzerland: Benaglio; Lichtsteiner, Affolter, Grichting (substituted in the 46th minute by Eggimann), Ziegler; Shaqiri (58 Shaqiri), Inler, Schwegler (81 Fernandes), Stocker (75 Bunjaku); Yakin (71 Costanzo); Derdiyok (71 Ben Khalifa).

Austria: Gratzei; Dag (46 Klein), Prödl, Pogatetz, Fuchs; Baumgartlinger, Schiemer; Wolf (46 Korkmaz), Junuzovic (78 Linz), Jantscher (78 Hölzl); Hoffer (46 Harnik).

swissinfo.ch and agencies