Streller - national hero.
11 Marco Streller

Position: Forward
Born: 18.06.81
Club: Cologne

Switzerland owe a great deal of gratitude to Marco Streller for he was the man whose crucial strike in the play-off against Turkey sealed their passport to Germany.

With just six minutes remaining in the second leg in Istanbul, the Swiss were desperately clinging on to their World Cup ticket via the away goals rule. But with Turkey throwing nearly every man forward, the Swiss broke on the counterattack and Streller buried his chance to become a national hero.

It marked a triumphant return to international football for the Cologne striker who had missed much of Switzerland's regulation qualifying campaign - and before that Euro 2004 - through injury.

The 24-year-old first hit the headlines in his homeland when he scored 13 goals in just 16 games for Basle in 2003/2004.

The following summer saw Streller complete a high-profile move to German club Stuttgart but in three injury disrupted seasons he failed to hold down a first-team place and just a solitary goal this term led to a January move to relegation strugglers Cologne, who could promise him regular football.

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