
Ottmar Hitzfeld, Switzerland coach
It was unbelievably difficult against such hard-running opponents once we’d gone a man down after just 30 minutes. We were well aware that the Chileans would be more skilful than us. After Valon Behrami was sent off, we just concentrated on keeping it tight at the back. We nearly made it through to the final whistle, and we even came close to an equaliser from Eren Derdiyok just before the end. However, despite this setback, I’m upbeat about our meeting with Honduras. We’ll put this defeat behind us and recover as quickly as we can.
Stephan Lichtsteiner, Switzerland defender
You’re obviously massively frustrated after you’ve lost like that. Playing with ten men and chasing the ball the whole time against a decent footballing side like Chile is always going to sap your strength. Chile threw five or six men forward for every attack. As the game went on, we no longer had the energy to piece together accurate passing moves. We know we’ll have to pose more of an attacking threat against Honduras.
Steve Von Bergen, Switzerland defender
We were completely thrown by the red card. Overall, we let ourselves be pressed too far back at the start, although we went out there intending to attack. It was very hard work with ten men. We’re angry at the moment, but we’re still in with a great chance, provided we beat Honduras.
Mark Gonzalez, Chile winger and Budweiser Man of the Match
What has happened today is fantastic. What could be better than winning and scoring the decisive goal? We can dream of making the last 16 now. I didn’t have a sniff of goal in all our warm-up matches, but it’s fallen to me to score at the tournament itself, which is unbelievable. We’re close to going through to the next round. It was a very difficult game, even after they went down to ten men, because Switzerland know all about shutting up shop at the back. We needed bags of patience.
Jorge Valdivia, Chile forward
I’m thrilled and relieved. We had plenty of chances, but we didn’t make the most of them. As I said at the start of the World Cup, winning is all that matters, no matter how you do it. We know we can improve in so many areas, but winning again feels good.
Marcelo Bielsa, Chile coach
Taking the game as a whole, we had a lot more possession than them. We created all kinds of chances, but we’ve only scored once. That should be a warning to us, because it could easily have ended in a draw, when you consider Switzerland’s huge chance just before the end. But I think we deserved to win. After they had a man sent off, we could safely send on more forwards, and that was enough to earn us the victory.


