Switzerland World Cup Squad Preview

Written by James Beckett Monday, 24 May 2010 20:32

World Cup Squad Previews

Switzerland will once again take there place along side the worlds footballing superpowers this summer, and once again will be looking to be one of the surprise packages of the tournament. The Swiss comfortably negotiated qualifying for South Africa, and will line up in Group H along side Chile, Honduras and pre tournament favourites Spain.

Under the guidance of the experienced coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, Switzerland will be looking to improve on their disappointing showing in Euro 2008. As tournament co-hosts the Swiss will feel they didn't quite do themselves justice two years ago, but the Alpine nation certainly have the fire-power upfront for a vast improvement this time round.

The prolific Alexander Frei will be the man to get Switzerland goals. Frei has an incredible record of 40 goals in his 73 caps, but Hitzfeld has other options upfront. Eren Derdiyok scored with his first touch in international football against England two years ago, and could be the man to partner Frei. However Derdiyok will face competition from Blaise N'Kufo and Marco Streller who have both had very good seasons at club level.

In midfield, Hitzfeld also has proven quality at his disposal. Gökhan Inler is establishing himself as one of the best holding midfielders in Serie A with Udinese, and Tranquillo Barnetta is a winger who could cause any full back problems, and there is also a spot for West Ham winger Valon Behrami. Elsewhere Hakan Yakin will once again look to pull the strings for the Swiss.

But if there is one area of the Switzerland side that might give openents cause for optimism, it would be the Swiss defence. While Philippe Senderos on his day is a commanding defensive leader, his Premier League performances for Arsenal have shown that he is very error prone, and otherwise, there no household names for Hitzfeld to chose from.

Elsewhere, there are no real surprises in the Swiss squad, Teenage winger, Xherdan Shaqiri has been given a call up despite only one previous cap, while defenders Johan Djourou and Christoph Spycher both miss out with knee injuries.

But Switzerland will once again be a difficult team to play against. Obviously you would expect Spain to emerge as Group H winners, but the Swiss have a very good chance of nicking second place, and their second game against Chile looks like it will prove decisive, but a spot in the last 16 will probably go down as a success for Hitzfeld, in a team that lacks any superstars.

I would suggest that they have a very good chance of doing this, and a bet on them qualifying from Group H may be worth a bet at 6/4 on Betfair.

Switzerland Squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg), Johnny Leoni (Zurich), Marco Woelfli (Young Boys).

Defenders: Stephan Lichtsteiner (Lazio), Stephane Grichting (Auxerre), Steve Von Bergen (Hertha Berlin), Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Mario Eggimann (Hannover), Reto Ziegler (Sampdoria).

Midfielders: Valon Behrami (West Ham), Gokhan Inler (Udinese), Benjamin Huggel (Basle), Gelson Fernandes (St. Etienne), Xherdan Shaqiri (Basel), Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Marco Padalino (Sampdoria).

Forwards: Alex Frei (Basle), Blaise Nkufo (Twente), Eren Derdiyok (Bayer Leverkusen), Hakan Yakin (Lucerne), Marco Streller (Basle).

Comments (2)

Tony Concannon said:

... Great stuff James. The Swiss certainly have a mountain to climb to get out of their group, but you would never expect them to roll over. And Senderos is garbage.

May 25, 2010

SK said:

Don't quite agree I have to disagree with your comment regarding the poor Swiss defense. We have some issues in central defense, however with Lichsteiner being one of the best right backs of serie A (Lazio) and Ziegler emerging as one of the top left back of serie A (Sampdoria currently, but chased by Juventus and Liverpool), as well as the goalkeeper Benaglio being one of the best, perhaps THE best goalkeep in the Bundesliga...

May 26, 2010