Football: Sweeper scheme exposed by Swiss

Switzerland Under-21 2 England Under-21 0

ENGLAND'S experiment with Jamie Redknapp as a sweeper improved gradually after an embarrassing start here last night but still looked fanciful as the Under-21 team were comfortably beaten by Switzerland. A cold kept the senior England coach away and probably just as well. Watching his idea in action might only have made Glenn Hoddle feel worse.

The Liverpool midfield player took time to bed down in his new role but by the time he did, the sharper, slicker and more direct Swiss were two goals ahead of the frequently fragile visitors.

The game was only a minute old when Redknapp, clearly under instructions to try to distribute the ball expansively from the back, played it from his own penalty area to Nigel Quashie who was robbed by Lionel Pizzinat. His shot, fortunately for England, was straight at Shaka Hislop. It was a sign of things to come as lazy defending twice let in the home side.

First, after five minutes, Hislop flapped at Daniel Tarone's corner and Emile Heskey dithered to allow Bernt Haas to spin and shoot home.

Then, after 29 minutes, Leonard Thurre burst through from midfield, went past Redknapp and after he had been tackled by John Curtis, the ball came to Patrick De Napoli, who held off Dominic Matteo to steer the ball home.

It took England 43 minutes to get a shot on target. Heskey had headed over and Quashie sent a low drive past a post before Frank Lampard's 20- yard drive was beaten away by Ivan Benito.

They should have pulled a goal back just before the hour when Heskey miskicked Nicky Barmby's low cross from the right but managed to lay the ball to Lampard, who took his time before shooting, only for Benito dive across brilliantly to save. Eight minutes later, Redknapp found Steve Guppy on the left, and Trevor Sinclair met his fine cross, only to head over the bar from a few yards out.

SWITZERLAND UNDER-21 (4-4-2): Benito (Aarau); Zellweger (Saint Gallen), Haas (Grasshopper), Smiljanic (Grasshopper), Berner (Grasshopper); Tarone (Zurich), Pizzinat (Servette) Celestini (Lausanne), Di Jorio (Zurich); De Napoli (Aarau), Thurre (Lausanne). Substitutes used: Sutter (Zurich) for Pizzinat, 77; Huber (Zurich) for Thurre, 87; Seaon (Sion) for Celestini, 67.

ENGLAND UNDER-21 (3-4-2-1): Hislop (Newcastle United); Curtis (Manchester United), Redknapp (Liverpool), Matteo (Liverpool); Dyer (Ipswich Town), Lampard (West Ham United), Quashie (Queen's Park Rangers), Guppy (Leicester City); Barmby (Everton), Sinclair (West Ham United); Heskey (Leicester City). Substitutes used: Carragher (Liverpool) for Quashie, 58; Holloway (Sunderland) for Redknapp, 71; Williams (Sunderland) for Heskey, 71; Hughes (Arsenal) for Matteo, 71; Hendrie (Aston Villa) for Lampard, 79.

Referee: H Albreitht (Germany).

The West Ham striker Lee Boylan was knocked unconscious in a collision with the Czech Republic Under-21 goalkeeper Jindrich Skacel 20 minutes into his Republic of Ireland Under-21 debut in Drnovice. However, X-rays later revealed Boylan that had not fractured a cheek-bone as feared, but badly bruised the side of his face. The Irish lost the match 3-0.