England vs. Switzerland Pre-match/PBP [R]

[Prenn]

England will be without Scholes and Butt, both who are injured. John Terry is expected to return in central defence for Ledley King. I'd probably bring Owen Hargreaves in on the left.

I don't know what to make of this game. Part of me fears the worst after the nature of the defeat against France, however there is a part of me that likes the sounds coming out of the England camp. They seem wound up and Gerrard's inention to 'make amends' could be very bad news for the Swiss.

We will know within the first 2 minutes how the game will go.

Anyone have any news on the Swiss?

[afgrijselijkheid]

wow, you are quite eager for the next match :D

celestini, captain of marseille, will almost certanly replace vogel in the lineup

haas has a stomach virus and is the only player to miss training monday

[Prenn]

Yeah, I'm desperate to get the game underway. Anything to forget sunday really :(

[sendorange]

Vogel the captain and midfield lynchpin for Switzerland got sent off in the Croatia game and is suspended. The lively Ricardo Cabanas should be back in the team though and Bernt Haas might be dropped. Hakan Yakin should play and will float in behind the two strikers, the Swiss (especially Stephane Henchoz) have been very confident that this tactic will work against England. I think they have a point as that kind of player floating inbetween the England midfield and defence will cause problems especially if England are without a ballwinner. I'll leave it to someone like SwissGCZ to say more on their team though ;)

Personally I think it's a dangerous match. Both teams ideally need to win and will have to press forward, but a draw might not be so bad for Switzerland, if France win against Croatia they will have won the group and will surely play their reserves in the final game. The French reserves are still very capable but who knows if they'll be bothered about getting anything from that game.

England need to mark H Yakin closely when Switzerland have the ball, be compact in the middle as Switzerland like to build up through there, and take advantage of the fact that the Swiss defence is not particularly quick or tall. Croatia had a fair bit of joy on headers from setpieces and with Olic running at defenders in the first half.

Good luck to both teams, I hope the game will be a lot cleaner and more entertaining than what those Croatians could muster.

[SeanOg]

England should win this one on paper and they sound fired up to make amends for the French game. But no matter what they say their mindset should be fragile after the debacle of Sunday.
The Swiss will know this and if they can somehow get the first goal the English could crumble. Should be a fascinating match.

[Prenn]

I like the talk from the England team about taking the frustration of the France out on the Swiss. It's the right attitude to have all things considered.

If I was a Swiss fan on monday I'd have been pleased, now I'd be getting just a bit worried.

As an England fan I'm expecting England to do as they say but suspect they'll find some way to bugger it up.

[SwissGCZ]

Anyone have any news on the Swiss?
It's all here:
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116744

Roster, starting eleven, formation, player description...

[SwissGCZ]

Vogel the captain and midfield lynchpin for Switzerland got sent off in the Croatia game and is suspended. The lively Ricardo Cabanas should be back in the team though and Bernt Haas might be dropped. Hakan Yakin should play and will float in behind the two strikers, the Swiss (especially Stephane Henchoz) have been very confident that this tactic will work against England. I think they have a point as that kind of player floating inbetween the England midfield and defence will cause problems especially if England are without a ballwinner. I'll leave it to someone like SwissGCZ to say more on their team though

I'm impressed, that's some good knowledge about Swiss footie. Did you learn that all from me? ;)

There is speculation that Kuhn might go with a more defensive formation against England, replacing Chapuisat (not Haas) with Cabanas in central midfield.

[TruxHalapino]

Breaking news!!!

Asked if they can beat England, swiss Goalkeeper Stiel answered: "Maybe"

[its called football]

Breaking news!!!

Asked if they can beat England, swiss Goalkeeper Stiel answered: "Maybe"
Full of confidence then.
Apparently the Swiss papers are giving away beckham voodoo dolls. Hope these work and the useless tit gets dropped and then plays well in the knockout ropunds when he is playing for pride.

[sendorange]

There is speculation that Kuhn might go with a more defensive formation against England, replacing Chapuisat (not Haas) with Cabanas in central midfield.
That would help stifle the midfield, push England into bypassing it and having a harder time pushing Lampard into the box and letting Scholes (whoever takes his place) or Gerrard get time on the ball in the middle, but I think they would be better off keeping their more comfortable shape and the attacking threat of the 2 strikers with Yakin behind.

[Prenn]

Paul Scholes is fit for the game.

Good news for England and bad news for Switzerland! :D

[tomvandamn]

yes way to go scholes
get another yellow card

[redstriker06]

If the English play like they did against France they will win this mathc by a scoreline of 3-0 however i have a feeling that the ******** version of England might show up. I have no justification except that the English are notorious for messing it up especially at the Euro cup.

[topengAksi]

If the English play like they did against France they will win this mathc by a scoreline of 3-0 however i have a feeling that the ******** version of England might show up. I have no justification except that the English are notorious for messing it up especially at the Euro cup.

yup Im having the same feeling. Even if they do win, its going to be a very close one, probably 2-1....but a close win is still a win! :D

[afgrijselijkheid]

and sendorange thinks i don't know my stuff...

England (4-4-2): 1-David James; 2-Gary Neville, 5-John Terry, 6-Sol Campbell, 3-Ashley Cole; 7-David Beckham (captain), 11-Frank Lampard, 4-Steven Gerrard, 8-Paul Scholes; 9-Wayne Rooney, 10-Michael Owen

Switzerland (4-3-1-2): 1-Joerg Stiel; 2-Bernt Haas, 20-Patrick Mueller, 5-Murat Yakin, 17-Christoph Spycher; 8-Raphael Wicky, 16-Fabio Celestini, 18-Benjamin Huggel; 10-Hakan Yakin; 11-Stephane Chapuisat, 9-Alexander Frei.

[afgrijselijkheid]

sorry, my cable went down for a minute

5'

owen cant quite race down a lob, stiel collects

[afgrijselijkheid]

7'

nice combo almost springs frei, but big sol is alert

[afgrijselijkheid]

beckham bundled over at MF

7'

frei shoved down by lampard after a 25M run

[afgrijselijkheid]

long yakin FK flies over and out - GK england