EUROPEAN MACCABI GAMES - OPEN FOOTBALL
GB 2 SWITZERLAND 0

Jonny Rose says Team Maccabi GB will be ready for Germany after goals from Ricky Engleman and Yoav Kestenbaum set up a mouth-watering semi-final showdown against the hosts on Sunday.

Rose's troops overcame a resilient Swiss team with a pair of second-half strikes to finish the group stages unbeaten.

With France beating Italy on the adjacent pitch, GB needed to win by a wide margin to win the group, but they were below par in a scrappy few half, with highlights few and far between.

GB made four changes to the starting XI that beat Italy, with Jordan Nathan, Adam Gilman, Ricky Engleman and Rocky Spitzer coming in. Nathan started in central defence following the news that Ashley Loofe has been ruled out of the competition through injury.

The game sparked to life in the second half when GB, as they have done in the first two matches against France and Italy, broke the deadlock on the hour mark when Engleman produced a cool finish after timing his run to perfection past a static Swiss defence.

Switzerland rarely threatened, although GB were given a scare when the post came to their rescue.

But an injury-time strike from Yoav Kestenbaum, who registered twice in the demolition of Italy, calmed any nerves. He showed great trickery wide on the right before cutting in and firing past the keeper.

GB boss Jonny Rose told JC Sport: "A win is a win, and it's a clean sheet - our first of the tournament. Jordan Nathan was outstanding today.

"We've come through relatively unscathed injury wise.

"We're undefeated and we'll go into the semis full of confidence. Now we've got a shot at a medal.

"We've watched Germany play, they're a good footballing team but I thnk our fitness and team ethic can take us through. If we play to our best we can beat them."

Paying tribute to Ashley Loofe, Rose said: "Ashley's obviously very disappointed as he's worked so hard to get into the shape he's in. But he still has a very important role to play as we have a young squad and his experience means he can still play an important supporting role.

GB: Ross Weinrabe, Joe Cohen, Jordan Nathan, Joe Sharpe, Josh Goldstein, Mark Bell, Adam Gilman, Ricky Engleman, Rocky Spitzer, Dovi Fehler, Max Rose. Subs: Jake Rinsler, Alex Davis, Alex Moss, Rob Cohen, Louie Basso, Yoav Kestenbaum

GOALS: Engleman 60, Kestenbaum 90