Switzerland: Road to Brazil 2014 [R]

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/preliminarydraw/01/48/03/97/prelimdrawpotallocations.pdf

No real surprise that the Swiss have dropped to the 3rd pot.
Worst case:
Spain
Montenegro
Swiss
Georgia/Albania
Finland/Cyprus
Wales

Best Case:
England
Slovenia
Switzerland
Northern Ireland
Faroe Islands
San Marino/Andorra

Re: World Cup 2014 draw and matches [r]

we're the 19th team in Europe. 18th place would have been pot2

Re: World Cup 2014 draw and matches [r]

I almost like being in pot three over pot two. Less pressure, more opportunity for teams to overlook them.

Re: World Cup 2014 draw and matches [r]

Anyone but Turkey from Pot 2?

Re: World Cup 2014 draw and matches [r]

Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Iceland, Zyprus

What a group!! How on earth was Norway in pot 1???

On the downside, there are super easy teams in this group. Zyprus, Albania and Iceland should not be underestimated.

Re: World Cup 2014 draw and matches [r]

Wow! The Swiss got a group that should give them a chance to advance to the World Cup. Away matches in Albania and Cyprus could be tricky, but I like the Swiss chances.

Re: World Cup 2014 draw and matches [r]

On the downside, there are no super easy teams in this group. Zyprus, Albania and Iceland should not be underestimated.

Re: World Cup 2014 draw and matches [r]

Indeed.

As far as the English media are concerned it's not so much the 'Group of Death' but more the Group of 'Still Life' i.e. Boring.

However, it would seem that Switzerland have drawn the weakest of G1 & G2, but the stronger elements in G4-6.

All games are winnable or loseable....or drawable.

I suspect there actually will be a lot of draws in the group.

I'd be particularly wary of Albania though.

Re: World Cup 2014 draw and matches [r]

I think that the UK press should have a little more respect after the 2-2 draw in the last meeting with the Swiss. Also by the matches for 2014, more of the M21 team will be playing, a much more dynamic team than the current NT.

I agree wholeheartedly, but the trouble is there's no UK team in Switzerland's group.

Ergo, no coverage in the UK.

Just a load of drivel of how England will win the WC (again)

It's exceedingly hard being a fan of Switzerland in England.

Zero coverage (unless Switzerland are in the same group as a UK team)

Ah well, I'm quite happy for Switzerland to surprise 'everyone', and as you infer, given some extra months of development with the younger Swiss element the Group should be there for the taking - with caveats of course.

Swiss Road to Brazil 2016 WCQ [r]

One could argue that the Montenegro match was the first step. If so it was nice to begin with a 2-0 win.

The Swiss have scheduled a friendly with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for 15 November. There is not a location, nor a time yet. Maybe Thun or Luzern in the new stadiums?

Just as a reminder here is the WCQ group that the Swiss have:
Albania
Cyprus
Iceland
Norway
Slovenia
Switzerland

Re: Swiss Road to Brazil 2016 WCQ [r]

Oops, I was thinking about the Olympics, oops. Thanks for making the change.

Re: Swiss Road to Brazil 2016 WCQ [r]

No doubt the future looks bright, here's some thoughts

Leftback: Could Rodriguez give Ziegler a real challenge? Hope so

Central Defence: Will Djourou/Senderos ever be fit and regulars in their clubs? Strongly doubt it and Djourou should look for a new club now that Arsenal got Mertesacker. I have lots of faith in Klose despite his debut. Other than that there's not much except Von Bergen, we have Rossini not a starter in Serie B which is a bit worrying. Meanwhile Affolter is very important for our U21. Feels like I'm forgetting someone.

Central midfield: With Dzemaili mostly a sub for Napoli will Behrami take his place next to Inler?

Left midfield: Will Barnetta and Stocker get back to their best after their injuries, can Barnetta reclaim his place in Leverkusen's starting XI? With only Mehmedi, Frei and Emeghara the left flank has looked weak

"10": Is Xhaka really ready to be a starter? We should work on some alternatives. Dzemaili, Barnetta, Costanzo and F. Frei are options. And this is probably the 100th time I'm saying Abdi should be called up. Things are looking up for him in Udinese right now. Please, no Margairaz!

Attack: Derdiyok definitely needs an understudy, I strongly doubt thet Emeghara or Mehmedi could play in the lone striker role. It's not really Ben Khalifa's style neither but I guess he's our biggest hope. Glad to see him and Seferovic back home

this is by far seem like the most easy group to get ticket to BRASIL,how come norway is seeded team?the swiss will go to world cup imo,if you cant beat norway and slovenia and other weakest three then you dont deserve to be in BRASIL though,or do you want GERMANY,SWEDEN and AUSTRIA?congratulation to SWISS team because it had could been worse heh?see you in BRASIL 2014 because we will destroy SWEDES once again as 2006 and AUSTRIA as of EURO 2012 qualification and those IRISH still fight for play-off 2012.

Re: Swiss Road to Brazil 2016 WCQ [r]

lb: what about Daprela... Ziegler has quite good speed, but he always tries flat passes which often are not played strong enough. He should show a bit more variation.

cd: yes, but that is really our achill tendon in defence. What about Senderos and Klose together as starters? Ferati is playing good at Freiburg, but does he have enough speed?

cm: there are several options in defense midfield. maybe this could be a spot for Behrami. Let's also see how Gelson and Schweglers situation develop. Lustenberger played very good at the U-21 EC. Kasami is playing often in his club. He should be called up at some point.

lm: has to be seen in combination with the left defence as well. I think Emeghara could bring something in this position. There are several candidates but nobody really forcing it. Kasami could also play it, but he is also rather defensive than offensive.

attack: also Derdyiok is young, yet. Mehmedi played the role quite ok at the U-21 Euro. And Ben Khalifa is not a lone striker either. Seferovic is also a bit small to be a lonely striker. Emeghara has to use his speed..

but why not changing the 4-2-3-1 into a 4-1-3-2 ? This would maybe solve both the defense midfield problem and the attack problem in the matches we have to win... we can keep the 4-2-3-1 vs the stronger oppositions.

There's no easy games in the qualifiers.

The best to hope for is 'friendly' match officials (who *always* determine the outcome of a game)

Formations/selections count for zilch if the ref blows his whistle at the 'wrong' time or one of his assistants raises a flag at the 'wrong' time.

Wales v Switzerland was a prime example of the match officials determining the result (rather than the players or managers)

All imho of course.

Two matches scheduled, both away:
1 Novembre 2011 in the Netherlands at 20h30 at l’Amsterdam ArenA.
15 November 2011 in Luxembourg at 20h15 at Stade Josy Barthel.

Another match scheduled:
29 February 2012 in Berne at the Stade de Suisse on natural grass vs Argentina.

as you know probably this is based on the FIFA ranking... As Norway did not qualify for the last EC and WC they had not lost so many matches over the last four years. We ourselves had no qualifiers for the EC, then qualified for WC and were eliminated in the first round at both tournaments and ended up as the 17th European team in pot 3. Also still only one spot behind pot2...

but Norway did neither play the EC and WC where they would have lost some matches...

we didn't play the EC qualifiers where we would have won some matches

Squad for Lux and Netherlands have been announced:
The usual suspects with a few notable additions -

Nef Alain
Rodriguez Ricardo
Klose Tim

No Senderos.

http://www.football.ch/sfv/cm/Kader HOL.LUX.pdf

Senderos is injured
Rodriguez replaces Ziegler who is out injured. Otherwise, Rodriguez would have played with the U-21

Good that Rodriquez gets more games, he would've joined up after the u21 match but now he gets to play both senior games, Rodriguez needs to replace Ziegler anyway as he's banned for a couple of games when the Qualification starts.

Behrami and Derdiyok might miss both matches

Moreno Costanzo and Vincent Rüfli called up.
Rüfli, really?!

Derdiyok misses out as well....

As for Rüfli's call-up..
I understand not calling up Ph. Koch and Daprela as the U21s need them more. I understand not calling Berardi as he's (as have Daprela) been playing bad in the Serie B. What I don't understand is how on earth Rüfli, with 13 ASL games under his belt can get a call-up before a guy like Cristian Schwegler who's been a regular for top teams in Switzerland and Austria for years. Scott Sutter should also be way ahead in the pecking order.

Hope Rüfli proves me wrong though, I have nothing against him and I remember his fantastic goal last season, I just think Hitzfeld has really been unfair to players like Abdi and Schwegler over the years.