In the stands in Durban, you could feel the excitement of Swiss supporters. You could feel it even before the goal went in and we were leading Spain. People believed that this would be a breakout tournament for the Swiss. When fulltime sounded, we all believed it. We had beaten maybe the best team in the world. Keep that moment locked away tight in your minds, because there has been precious little to cheer about since.

In the stands in Durban, you could feel the excitement of Swiss supporters. You could feel it even before the goal went in and we were leading Spain. People believed that this would be a breakout tournament for the Swiss. When fulltime sounded, we all believed it. We had beaten maybe the best team in the world. Keep that moment locked away tight in your minds, because there has been precious little to cheer about since.

The opening win filled our eyes with stars and dreams. But reality came crashing back to us when we faced Chile, a side who attacked as enthusiastically as Spain, but on the day were much more accurate. We could not absorb this attack and counter the way we did against the Spanish, and began to realize how much luck came into the Spain win. Make no mistake - it's still a very proud moment, but they could have done better with what we gave them.

The loss to Chile should not have been fatal. We went into the final day facing a Honduras side who had lost their opening two, and with Spain likely to beat Chile. A win over Honduras, by 2 goals, would have secured us into the next round, leaving the Chileans heartbroken and one of the few teams ever to take 6 points and not qualify. But we didn't do our part. A 0-0 draw, thanks to more missed chances, was the best we could manage, and it saw us home early from the greatest tournament in sport.

Maybe getting your upset win in the first round of games isn't the best. Maybe it lets you get cocky and overconfident. I wouldn't trade that win over Spain for anything .... except a trip to the second round and a chance at the quarterfinals. Maybe in Brazil ... but it will be with a lot of new players, especially on attack. Good luck now to the other European sides in stopping the explosive performance of the American sides. It will still be a very interesting World Cup.