Today I'm going back 26 years to 1995 and England's Friendly International against Switzerland at Wembley Stadium.
Following England's failure to qualify for the USA World Cup in 1994 they were 22nd in FIFA's rankings compared to Switzerland's 9th. Rarely can the two nations have met with the Swiss being classed as the higher rated side. Manager Terry Venables' England were building for the 1996 European Championships to be held in England. As a result of being hosts for Euro96, England had no Qualifiers to play and were obliged to organise a series of friendlies in order to fill their fixture calendar with suitable opponents. Switzerland were one of these.
There was a familiar face in charge of the Swiss team: Roy Hodgson who would go on to manage England from 2012 to 2016. Hodgson was a highly respected coach and one of those who wasn't afraid to go abroad to build his experience and reputation. Hodgson's modest playing career took place at Non-League level and his management career began in Halmstads in Sweden in 1976 eventually finishing at Crystal Palace earlier this year. Across the intervening 45 years he managed 16 clubs and 4 National sides through 1,213 matches, winning 526 of them. This game against England was Hodgson's last in charge of Switzerland.
Playing in accordance with the FIFA rankings, it was Switzerland, rather against the run of play, who struck first after 41 minutes with a sharp header by Adrian Knup. England showed plenty of determination however and replied just before the break thanks to a Stuart Pearce shot from 30 yards which took a deflection on its way into the net. 1-1 at half-time but it would be England who would dominate the second half. First Teddy Sheringham steered home a header in the 57th minute and then a tap in from a rebound for Steve Stone in the 78th minute who was following up an Alan Shearer shot. The goal was Stones' first for England in only his second appearance for his country and he would go on to win a total of 9 caps (scoring 2 goals). Overall it was a strong performance from England and all the signs were there for the form that England would show the following summer when coming so close to winning Euro96.
CRB Match No. 997
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