But the papers praised Switzerland's overall performance in Germany and looked ahead optimistically to the young Swiss team's chances in Euro 2008.

That it shouldn't have ended this way was the general feeling of most editorial writers, commenting on what everyone agrees was an unsatisfactory match characterized by cautious tactics and few shots at the net.

"With a little luck it could have been the biggest success since 1954, when Switzerland reached the quarterfinals, before losing 5-7 to Austria," said the German-speaking Tages-Anzeiger.

"Nevertheless, despite failing to get even one penalty past the Ukraine goalkeeper, the Swiss team can be proud of what was achieved," the paper continued, pointing out that the Swiss had finished at the top of their group, ahead of favorites France.

"Such a bitter disappointment," was the sentiment in the French-language daily, Le Temps, describing the match as two hours of agony, boredom and tragedy. Losing without having really played or having conceded a single goal in four matches is tough."

For Le Temps the match was like a game of chess: "It was very calculated - too thought out. But that's modern football; it's not particularly exciting."

The tabloid Blick spoke of "penalty tears" with photographs of the Swiss players shedding the same. Blick felt that the team had deserved better than going out on penalties and that individuals should not be singled out for the way the team was knocked out.

"The dream is over", lamented the Basler Zeitung, the Tages-Anzeiger and the Neue Luzerner Zeitung.

But the "Berner Zeitung" felt that the team's reputation had grown as a result of the tournament. It added that the Swiss had not been as strong as against South Korea in attacking but the defence had been particularly solid.

The French-language tabloid Le Matin said it had not been a great match as the team was less decisive than the week before and the defeat was particularly galling as the match had been there for the taking.

The Italian-language La Regione talked about a "hard return to reality that we would have liked to have experienced much later". The newspaper added: "We bid farewell to the World Cup with a mixture of applause and disappointment."

The Tages-Anzeiger was less forgiving, calling it the poorest game of the tournament so far. The Italian-language Corriere del Ticino echoed this sentiment, "It was a disastrous and boring match and the spectators who were not supporting either side couldn't help but whistle their disapproval."

Despite the bitter blow, the press looked forward to Euro 2008 and Switzerland's chances as co-organiser. "The Swiss team has a great future ahead of it," said Blick. "This generation has developed the self-confidence of a great team."

It added that whereas the team used to be more individualistic and dominated by certain regions, the current multi-cultural squad seems to have a true purpose.

Le Temps added: "We need to very quickly find our smile again and look at the positive side of our performance and forget the negative, focusing on our next objective Euro 2008."