Perennial darkish horses Switzerland head into the World Cup feeling good after an undefeated qualification marketing campaign noticed them attain Qatar forward of European champions Italy.
This would be the Swiss facet’s twelfth look on the World Cup and their eighth try and match 1954’s best-ever end of the quarter-final.
Regardless of their less-than-convincing report at World Cup tournaments, Switzerland stay a type of nations that the majority rival followers are eager to keep away from and that feeling has solely grown after their qualification run.
This is what you could find out about Switzerland on the World Cup.
Goalkeepers: Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Kohn (RB Salzburg), Jonas Omlin (Montpellier), Yann Sommer (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Defenders: Manuel Akanji (Manchester Metropolis), Eray Comert (Valencia), Nico Elvedi (Borussia Monchengladbach), Ricardo Rodriguez (Torino), Fabian Schar (Newcastle United), Silvan Widmer (Mainz)
Midfielders: Granit Xhaka (Arsenal), Edimilson Fernandes (Mainz), Fabian Frei (Basel), Remo Freuler (Nottingham Forest), Ardon Jashari (Luzern), Fabian Rieder (Younger Boys), Xherdan Shaqiri (Chicago Fireplace), Djibril Sow (Eintracht Frankfurt), Renato Steffen (Lugano), Denis Zakaria (Chelsea), Michel Aebischer (Bologna)
Forwards: Breel Embolo (Monaco), Christian Fassnacht (Younger Boys), Noah Okafor (RB Salzburg), Haris Seferovic (Galatasaray), Ruben Vargas (Augsburg)
Standard backup goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo picked up a knee damage throughout Lorient’s defeat to PSG on November 6 which sadly price him a spot within the squad.
Forward of him, there are main doubts in regards to the iconic Yann Sommer. The Gladbach goalkeeper tore his ankle ligaments in October and has not performed a aggressive minute since, however he did make the squad. The inclusion of 4 stoppers within the 26-player squad may let you know all you could find out about his probably involvement, nevertheless.
Granit Xhaka
The World Cup comes on the splendid time for midfielder Granit Xhaka, who’s within the type of his life. Having starred for Arsenal up to now this season, all eyes shall be on the 30-year-old, who has 106 caps to his identify.
Manuel Akanji
One other having fun with life within the Premier League, Manuel Akanji has impressed since his summer season swap from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester Metropolis. The centre-back has been to 2 main tournaments together with his nation and performed each minute in every.
Xherdan Shaqiri
Xherdan Shaqiri stays Switzerland’s talisman. The winger is having fun with life over in Main League Soccer with Chicago Fireplace and shall be hoping so as to add to his 26 targets for his nation.
Yann Sommer
Strikers from throughout the globe shall be praying that Sommer would not get well in time because the Gladbach goalkeeper is without doubt one of the world’s finest on his day. He has 30 clear sheets in 76 caps however remains to be awaiting his first World Cup shut-out.
Murat Yakin’s most well-liked setup has been a 4-2-3-1 formation, though do not be shocked to see that swap to a 4-3-3 in harder video games.
Switzerland predicted XI: Sommer; Widmer, Schar, Akanji, Rodriguez; Freuler, Xhaka; Shaqiri, Sow, Vargas; Embolo
As talked about earlier, Switzerland had been in excessive spirits after they went unbeaten in qualification, though they have not managed to keep up that kind.
2022 has yielded blended outcomes, together with failing to win both of their two friendlies and splitting their six Nations League video games evenly between victories and defeats.
They misplaced their first three Nations League video games however gained their closing three, seeing off vital tournament-calibre foes in Portugal, Spain and the Czech Republic.
Switzerland’s final 5 outcomes (all competitions)
Portugal 4-0 Switzerland
Switzerland 0-1 Spain
Switzerland 1-0 Portugal
Spain 1-2 Switzerland
Switzerland 2-1 Czech Republic
Drawn in Group G alongside pre-tournament favourites Brazil, Switzerland can anticipate finding themselves in a shoot-out with Serbia and Cameroon for the second qualifying spot.
Ending second, which they’re greater than able to doing, would see Switzerland drawn towards the winner of Group H, which is prone to be both Portugal or Uruguay. No matter who they arrive up towards, that fixture is hard to foretell.
On paper, nevertheless, Switzerland do not look to have the firepower wanted to get any additional within the competitors.
Prediction: Final 16
