Former Players: Frei booed by his own fans

A long-time favourite of the swiss fans, Alexander Frei has recently been facing a rather unusual situation.

Despite his 40 goals in 81 caps, the “Nati”’s best ever goal-scorer is experiencing hard times, having failed to score for his nation since a bit more than a year.

Against Wales on Tuesday, in « his » Saint-Jacques Stadium of Basel (where he plays his club football), Frei wasn’t spared the booing, as soon as the line-ups were announced. Swiss newspaper Le Temps reports: “As soon as he messed-up his free-kick on 57th minute, public hostility doubled of intensity and turned into some sort of fury. Each ball the striker touched attracted him a new wave of boos”.

Once more unable to score, the former Rennes striker came out after 79 minutes, once more in a concert of whistles. Refusing to talk straight after the game, Frei received support from his national coach. “I felt like he was very upset to experience this in his own stadium, Ottmar Hitzfeld admits. Alex should remain the captain, he brings a lot to this team. It would not be useful that he hands the armband back, it would only weaken the player”.

Remains the « danger », feared by Hitzfeld, to see his captain decide to resign from the national team. “I hope Alex will sleep well and avoid taking any hasty decision, he worried during the game. We can’t abandon a player who scores that many goals, has so much experience and always gave so much for Switzerland”.