ZURICH, Switzerland: Taye Taiwo scored in the 79th minute and gave Nigeria a 1-0 victory over Switzerland, the final friendly match of the year for the 2008 European Championship co-host.

The left back who plays for Marseille struck with a strong left-foot from outside the box on a pass back from captain Peter Odemwingie, sending the ball into the left corner just beyond the hand of diving Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.

It was the fifth loss in 10 games for the Swiss this year. The traveling Nigerians ended a series of friendlies with their second win to go along with a pair of draws and two losses.

A crowd of 12,700 attended the match in Zurich's refurbished Letzigrund, one of the four Swiss stadiums to be used for next year's championship finals.

Both sides were missing some of their key players because of injuries.

The Swiss were better organized in the first half. After a flurry of Swiss action around the Nigerian goal at the start of the second half, the visitors seemed to gain strength as the match progressed.

Robot  Villager

# 1 YouTube - 0-1 Switzerland vs. Nigeria | FIFA Friendly .Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 20.11.2007 17:51

ezyvic  Villager

# 2 This is a very good result. Good for the morale of the young players with minimal international exposure. Details are still sketchy, as I would like to know the starting eleven, and what technical inputs Vogt made that changed the game in the second half. Good result on an away soil Posted by ezyvic| 20.11.2007 18:09

Mikky jaga  Villager

# 3 Good result considering the odds against Vogts: his regulars were unavoidably absent, making him to source for alternatives at a short notice. This is in contrast to what Chkwu did: allowing his players to hold him to ransome to the extent that he had to go to a crucial qualifier without a good bench. Nigeria is a land of talents. No Nigerian is greater than his country. Those who are opportuned to serve should see it as privilege as there is a replacement for everyone.:) Posted by Mikky jaga| 21.11.2007 04:24

Jah Guda  Villager

# 4 It was a good game, our players showed a lot of maturity and held the ball well. Bertie Vogts has requested the player’s meet up for training and preparation in January, two weeks before the Nations Cup, Expect the usual objections from English clubs. Vogts made a comment regarding the time of year the tournament was held, he said it would be easier if the tournament took place in the summer, as in European Summer. Don’t quite like this comment. Clubs are aware of the dates of football tournaments around the globe, they must put in place contingency plans for those players who will be away for 2-4 weeks representing their countries. Posted by Jah Guda| 21.11.2007 04:47

dapxin  Villager

# 5 I saw the concluding part of this game and if I were Vogts, I wouldn't be clapping at stoppage time. There are many things to worry about in the team, although the defense was very inspiring, if you decide to forgot that we were playing the Swiss and not italy. All in all, good result, but there is so much discovery work to do, and especially polishing work before we can have another golden team of the 90's extraction. Posted by dapxin| 21.11.2007 06:57