Scouting each opponent: Switzerland

[Murat.Marshal]

I got this idea from group C.

How do you play against Switzerland? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Discuss

[shoshot]

Was wondering the same thing myself; I believe I read elsewhere that they don't have much offense.

[KUBI_nu11]

Yea, I am honnestly glad people believe that... this is great for us.

All our players from midfield can score goals and Marco Streller was injured for a while. We have many solution in front:

Daniel Gygax, Vonlanthen, Lustrinelli and N'Kufo but he wont play in the World Cup. Alexander Frei will be back on time and he his very good, one of our key players. We need him altough we managed to beat Scotland no problem without him...





Strengths: Switzerland are young, quick and technical. Left-back Ludovic Magnin is great at set pieces and sets up lots of goals. Arsenal defender Phillippe Senderos is a real talent - provided he keeps his concentration.

Weaknesses: Can be a tad lightweight and lack experience. Their nerve nearly went in the play-off against Turkey - they were 3-0 up on aggregate and ended up scraping through on away goals. Our main weakness the goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuhler. 3 out of 4 goals against Turkey were his fault 99%!

Qualifying star: Alexander Frei. His 88th-minute header earned a 1-0 qualifying win against outsiders Cyprus in March. Qualifying group four was the tightest of the European groups and had Switzerland not won that match, they would not have reached the play-offs.

Present star man: Frei again. The man who won the Cyprus qualifier was one of the top scorers in the French league last season for Stade Rennais, netting 22 goals in 40 games. Senderos, Magnin are the other key players

Manager: Jakob 'Kobi' Kuhn. Took over in summer 2001 to become the first Swiss coach of the national side in 12 years. Has overseen an improvement in fortunes, guiding the side to Euro 2004 before securing their place in Germany.


Captain: Johann Vogel. The experienced 28-year-old AC Milan player offers a solid presence for the Swiss in midfield, and has won more than 70 caps since making his international debut in 1995.

Young talents: All of them are 20 years old or less: Johan Vonlanthen (Youngest scorer ever of the EURO), Valon Behrami (Lazio), Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkunsen), Philippe Senderos and Johan Djourou (Arsenal), Davide Chiumiento

[Autogolazo]

Can anyone give a possible starting lineup for Switzerland, assuming Frei gets healthy?

[SwissGCZ]

Can anyone give a possible starting lineup for Switzerland, assuming Frei gets healthy?
--------------------------------- Zuberbühler (Basel) ----------------------------------

---- P. Degen (Dortmund) -- Senderos (Arsenal) -- Müller (Lyon) -- Magnin (Stuttgart) ----

------- Barnetta (Leverkusen) ------- Vogel (AC Milan) ------- Wicky (Hamburg) --------

----------------------------- Cabanas (Köln) ------------------------------------

------------------ Vonlanthen (Eindhoven) ------ Frei (Rennes) ------------------


Might also see Behrami (Lazio) or Streller (Stuttgart) in there.

[KUBI_nu11]

Can anyone give a possible starting lineup for Switzerland, assuming Frei gets healthy?

Alexander Frei will be back for sure. He already played 2 games with Rennes B team and scored 3 goals. We will be back in the A team this wednsday :)

I agree with SwissGCZ but to one exeption: The Swiss squad is more likely to be:

--------------------------------- Zuberbühler (Basel) ----------------------------------

---- P. Degen (Dortmund) -- Senderos (Arsenal) -- Müller (Lyon) -- Magnin (Stuttgart) ----

------- Barnetta (Leverkusen) ------- Vogel (AC Milan) ------- Wicky (Hamburg) --------

----------------------------- Cabanas (Köln) ------------------------------------

------------------ Streller (Stuttgart*) ------ Frei (Rennes) ----------------

*currently on a loan to Koln


On the bench, our most important players:
- Valon Behrami (Lazio)
- Daniel Gygax (Lille)
- Johan Djourou (Arsenal)
- Johan Vonlanthen (PSV but on loan to Breda)
- Christoph Spycher (Francfort)

[magicgam1]

Alexander Frei will be back for sure. He already played 2 games with Rennes B team and scored 3 goals. We will be back in the A team this wednsday :)

I agree with SwissGCZ but to one exeption: The Swiss squad is more likely to be:

--------------------------------- Zuberbühler (Basel) ----------------------------------

---- P. Degen (Dortmund) -- Senderos (Arsenal) -- Müller (Lyon) -- Magnin (Stuttgart) ----

------- Barnetta (Leverkusen) ------- Vogel (AC Milan) ------- Wicky (Hamburg) --------

----------------------------- Cabanas (Köln) ------------------------------------

------------------ Streller (Stuttgart*) ------ Frei (Rennes) ----------------

*currently on a loan to Koln


On the bench, our most important players:
- Valon Behrami (Lazio)
- Daniel Gygax (Lille)
- Johan Djourou (Arsenal)
- Johan Vonlanthen (PSV but on loan to Breda)
- Christoph Spycher (Francfort)


the one position in the starting eleven which is most unsure is the one of the second striker, it could be Streller or Vonlanthen but more likely Switzerland is starting with a 4-4-1-1 in which Gygax could be in the starting eleven or why not David Degen or Behrami?

[gabisu no ken]

As a french, I have to say that the most impressive thing about Switzerland is the fact that they seems to get better year after year. France had a lot of matches against them during the last years and we felt the differences

- in 2003, exhibition game easily won (2-0) by the french
- in Euro 2004, a victory (3-1) but don't let the three goals fool you, it wasn't easy and we have to thanks Henry for his very good game. Switzerland was good this year but too young and naive
- during the World Cup qualificationsn, 2005 France-Suisse 0-0 against a robust and more "smart" team (not as naive as during Euro 2004). Switzerland wasn't great, but still they manage to defend pretty well (and we played a very bad football too). Barthez saved us against Gygax, Deben and Cabanas. We should have won but the tie wasn't a hold-up.
- 2006 Suisse-France 1-1, very tough match, Switzerland played very well especially during the first 30 minutes and the last 10 (after the equalizer). We could have won (Magnin was lucky on his goal) but we didn't deserved to win, clearly

I think they're gonna be one of the favorites for the Euro 2008 and they can do something really good in this World Cup. The real question is gonna be Frei's realism, he sucked this year with Rennes and wasn't good with Switzerland (looks at what he missed against Ireland). But if he plays like he used to play last season he's gonna be really dangerous. You have also to remenber that usually Frei is very lucky/efficient when he plays against Barthez.

[magicgam1]

Wicky who was not 100pc fit was on the bench against Ivory Coast and Barnetta played on the left instead and Gygax on the right side

and Behrami was preferred to Ph. Degen