Czech Republic beat Switzerland 1-0 in the opening game of Euro 2008 this evening. In what was a fairly decent game, the Swiss were rocked when captain and striker Alexander Frei departed the field in tears after a knee injury in the 42 minute that is sure to rule him out of the remainder of the tournament.

Philippe Senderos played the entire match and put in an adequate performance, although was hardly tested marking the slug-like 35-year-old Jan Koller. The Swiss centre back should have been booked early on for kicking the ball back out of play following a throw-in to the opposition, which was unfortunate - for me - as I had money on Senderos being the first player to get booked at 11-1.

Czech Republic took the lead in the 70th minute when Vaclav Sverkos broke the offside trap and scored the winner with a strike off his shin, but the Czech's were pedestrian and one-dimensional throughout - Arsenal playmaker Thomas Rosicky certainly could have made a difference in such circumstances.

Despite a spirited performance from Switzerland in the second half, they failed to grab the equaliser they may well have deserved - both goalkeeper Petre Cech and the crossbar coming to the opposition's rescue. Although on this showing, it's clear that neither team look likely to have a realistic chance of getting much further than the group stages.

Arsenal defender Johan Djourou failed to take any part in the game.