Switzerland road to Russia 2018 World Cup
Switzerland's mostly young and talented team are well distributed between several of Europe's top clubs -mostly the Bundesliga- but their quality as an ensemble has been put to question after some very mediocre performances throughout their qualification campaign. This will be the 10th time that the Nationalmannschat makes an appearance at a World Cup, sharing a spot in group E with Neymar's Brazil, Costa Rica and Serbia. Check Switzerland Betting Odds here.
Coach Petkovic's troupe experienced a fairly breezy run throughout the first nine qualifying matches, but stumbled upon an unsung rivalry with Ronaldo's Portugal. On first instance, on September of 2016, the Swiss managed to obtain a 2-0 victory over the Quinas who sorely lacked the support of their Real Madrid forward. They kept on a steady win cycle until they travelled to Lisbon to lose before a more wholesome Portuguese squad that forced them to look for their World Cup ticket at the play-offs. On the first leg for the head-to-head final round, the Swiss defeat the Northern Irish with a penalty shot provided by Corry Evan's handball and executed by Ricardo Rodriguez. Later on the same month of November, the Irish travelled to Basel for the rematch, but tied with the host to zero goals, with midfielder Denis Zakaria's participation as the single highlight for Switzerland, besides their now confirmed qualified status. More recently, the Swiss obtained two friendly victories over Greece and Panama, and will soon meet Spain and Japan in June prior to their World Cup engagements.
Switzerland Key Players
Past issues aside, both the fan base and team appear very confident and optimistic about the upcoming challenge. Vladimir Petkovic has led his team successfully throughout 4 years, including a very worthy stint at the European Championship in 2016. All and all, there isn't a single powerful reason to give credibility to the detractors, but it might prove wise for the Swiss to sharpen their edges before the big event. Granit Xhaka is capable of producing some very important plays from the midfield, in similar fashion to Xherdon Shaqiri, Remo Freuler and household name Valon Behrami. Petkovic will have Marwin Hitz, Yann Sommer and Roman Burki to choose from for the goalkeeper position, while Johan Djourou, Michael Lang, Nico Elvedi and Captain Stephan Lichtsteiner will be well positioned at the back; Manuel Akanji is a welcome new addition to the Swiss defense.
The first real test for the Swiss will arrive in the shape of a match with Brazil scheduled for June 17th, after which they will contend with Serbia on the 22nd and Costa Rica on the 27th. The 8th best team in FIFA's ranking is also enjoying some luck within the World Cup betting odds markets, with a 100-1 price in most sportsbooks around the globe.
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