The Swiss will hope to trigger bother through the knockout section in Qatar if they will escape a testing qualifying group.
Earlier World Cup appearances: 11
Titles: 0
Finest end: Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954)
World Cup report: W12 D8 L17
Targets: 50
Largest win: 4-1 vs Italy (1954), 4-1 vs Romania (1994)
Participant to look at: Granit Xhaka
Rating: 15
Fixtures: Cameroon (November 24), Brazil (November 28), Serbia (December 2)
Switzerland can be out to trigger upsets in Qatar.
Led by Granit Xhaka, the Swiss squad possesses expertise and high quality in key midfield and defensive positions, however stern checks await within the form of a robust group that includes serial winners Brazil, in addition to Cameroon and Serbia.
Switzerland has featured at 11 World Cups since making its maiden look on the 1934 version.
In current a long time, the Swiss have emerged as event regulars, with the facet’s look in Qatar set to mark a fifth successive World Cup displaying.
Highest end
Switzerland’s equal best-ever World Cup run happened 68 years in the past once they performed host to the 1954 version and squeezed their option to the quarter-finals.
Given the competitors solely featured 16 sides, the facet’s place as runners-up of their group – which included England, Italy and Belgium – paved the way in which for entry to the last-eight.
Nevertheless, the group proved unable to progress any additional, dropping a 7-5 thriller – the highest-scoring contest in World Cup historical past – to neighbouring Austria.
Switzerland had reached the quarter-finals twice earlier than, through the 1934 World Cup in Italy and 4 years later in France, earlier than dropping to then-Czechoslovakia and Hungary on the respective tournaments.
Key participant
Xhaka, 30, can be crucial to Swiss hopes in Qatar. The extremely skilled, combative central midfielder has been capped greater than 100 occasions for his nation and has displayed wonderful type of late for his membership facet, Arsenal, within the English Premier League.
He has scored three targets and registered as many assists in simply 13 league video games to this point, together with his box-to-box play demonstrating his attacking prowess, in addition to famend defensive talents and attracting widespread plaudits.
Xhaka’s flying begin to the season has come after he performed an instrumental function in Switzerland’s spectacular run to the quarter-finals of the delayed Euro 2020 capped by the group’s penalty shootout victory over much-fancied France within the last-16.
His function in Qatar can be to perform as Switzerland’s all-action central cog, linking up play between its defensive marshalls, similar to Fabian Schar and Manuel Akanji, and attacking skills together with Xherdan Shaqiri and Breel Embolo.
However his notoriously feisty temperament can be below the scanner as soon as once more, significantly when the Swiss face up towards Serbia on December 2.
Xhaka, who's of Kosovo-Albanian heritage, was fined by FIFA for making an eagle hand gesture 4 years in the past whereas celebrating scoring in a 2-1 win over the Serbs on the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The nationalist gesture symbolises the double-headed eagle on Albania’s nationwide flag.
Followers stay hopeful
Switzerland can have a way of the acquainted in Qatar, with two of their group G opponents – Brazil and Serbia – providing a repeat of the facet’s 2018 event matchups.
Followers will definitely be hoping for a repeat of the outcomes from 4 years in the past once they held Brazil to a 1-1 draw and beat Serbia – in addition to a victory towards the group underdogs Cameroon this time round.
Switzerland, who're the Fifteenth-best group on this planet, in accordance with the most recent FIFA rankings, could wrestle to progress additional than the last-16.
However the group is actually anticipated to characterize a cussed impediment that extra extremely favoured opponents will do effectively to hurdle.
If Xhaka can carry his current home kind into the event, it isn't past risk that he might drive Switzerland additional than they've ever gone earlier than.
For the greater than eight million Swiss who can be cheering the group on, joyous surprises might simply be across the nook.
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