Czech Republic’s Vaclav Sverkos celebrates with a teammate after scoring on Saturday. (AP)

Basel: Vaclav Sverkos scored his first goal for the Czech Republic in a 1-0 win over co-host Switzerland on Saturday in the opening match of the European Championship. Sverkos, making only his fourth appearance for the national team, scored from 16 metres with the outside of his right foot in the 71st minute, shortly after coming on as a substitute.

Switzerland also lost influential captain and record scorer Alexander Frei when he injured his right knee. The 28-year-old striker was taken off the field in tears shortly before halftime. He returned to the bench on crutches.

Sverkos ran onto Tomas Galasek’s header after beating the offside trap and made no mistake with a cool finish to the left of Switzerland goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. His goal saved the Czech Republic from an otherwise poor performance that included long stretches of Swiss control.

Switzerland missed a chance to equalise in the 80th minute. Tranquillo Barnetta’s low shot was stopped by Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Cech after Tomas Ujfalusi appeared to handle the ball in the area. Johan Vonlanthen got the loose ball but his shot hit the crossbar, and the ball was cleared. Before the late drama, there have been few clear-cut scoring chances, with the youthful Swiss lacking a cutting edge in front of goal and the experienced Czechs happy to soak up pressure and look for chances on counterattack.

But Czech Republic, known in previous tournaments for their attacking football, also started defensively, with five in midfield, and record scorer Jan Koller up front.

A defensive mistake led to Switzerland’s first chance. Frei stole the ball off Jan Polak in midfield, and the Swiss record holder with 35 international goals played a quick one-two with strike partner Marco Streller, but shot wide .

Switzerland continued to push forward with their youthful midfield mostly through Valon Behrami down the right and Gokhan Inler up the middle. Behrami shot straight at Cech from 25 metres before Inler had a low shot from the edge of the box also saved.

The Czech Republic have no clear scoring chances in the first half. They forced one save from the Switzerland goalkeeper in the 14th minute, after defender Zdenek Grygera’s heel pass sent David Jarolim into space on the right. Jarolim’s cross was deflected by a head on its way to goal, but Benaglio parried it to safety.

TEAMS

Czech Republic: Petr Cech, Zdenek Grygera, David Rozehnal, Tomas Ujfalusi, Marek Jankulovski, Libor Sionko (Stanislav Vlcek, 83), David Jarolim (Radoslav Kovac, 87), Tomas Galasek, Jan Polak, Jaroslav Plasil, Jan Koller (Vaclav Sverkos, 56).

Switzerland: Diego Benaglio, Stephan Lichtsteiner (Johan Vonlanthen, 75), Patrick Mueller, Philippe Senderos, Ludovic Magnin, Valon Behrami (Eren Derdiyok, 84), Gokhan Inler, Gelson Fernandes, Tranquillo Barnetta, Alexander Frei (Hakan Yakin, 46), Marco Streller. (AP)