Switzerland's World Cup campaign came to a shuddering halt Friday after an uninspiring 0-0 draw with Honduras in Group H saw both teams eliminated at the Free State stadium. Switzerland, which had excited everybody with a shock 1-0 opening win over European champion Spain, could have reached the second round with victory over the Central Americans but rarely looked like scoring. In the end, it finished with just one goal scored and one conceded in its three games. Honduras came bottom of the group and failed to score in the tournament. Spain, which beat Chile 2-1 in Pretoria, claimed first place and will next play Portugal while the Chileans were second and face Brazil in the last 16. “We failed to deliver because we had too much pressure. We had to score twice,” Switzerland's German coach Ottmar Hitzfeld told a news conference. “We didn't have the stamina, we didn't have the perseverance... We are very disappointed, not just me, the players, everybody,” he added. All week the Swiss had talked of their attacking intentions as they went in search of a second round place and promised to shed a defensive approach that had set a World Cup record of 558 minutes without conceding a goal. They disappointed on both levels. A much vaunted rearguard had as many holes as their famous cheese at times and they could have been trailing at the interval had Honduras found a better final ball on the occasions when they threatened. At the other end, Blaise Nkufo's untidy first half chest down from half a metre with just the goalkeeper to beat summed up the lack of a cutting edge in the Swiss attack, which failed to make use of some neat deliveries from the wings. Hitzfeld replaced Gelson Fernandes with the more creative Hakan Yakin in midfield at halftime but it failed to pay off after he wasted numerous well-placed balls from set pieces. Next into action was captain and record scorer Alexander Frei, who provided more spark in his 25 minute cameo than fellow forwards Nkufo and Eren Derdiyok combined. Having just failed to direct a cross past Honduran keeper Noel Valladares, he almost turned provider with six minutes to go but his superb ball was just missed by the onrushing Yakin and Derdiyok before rolling away to safety. Honduras, with six changes to the side that lost 2-0 to Spain last time out, was lively and passionate from the outset, snapping into tackles and looking dangerous on the break. Striker David Suazo failed to bury a diving header in the 52nd which would have given them a deserved lead and Edgard Alvarez was foiled by Diego Benaglio's fine save in the 71st. The draw was a huge missed opportunity for the Swiss, with national media bemoaning the lack of urgency needed to unlock the Honduran defense and open up a route to the last 16.
