Group H - Switzerland

Group H

Spain

Switzerland

Honduras

Chile

Nickname: Schweizer Nati (Swiss National Team… Lame)

Colors: Red and white

Current World Ranking: 24

Manager: Ottmar Hitzfeld

Born in Germany, Hitzfeld got his start as a player in Switzerland where he won two league titles. As a manager he’s one of only two to win the Champions League with two different clubs. He’s been at the helm of the Swiss team since 2008 and employs a purposeful, disciplined, if un-flashy strategy with the team.

History: The Swiss have qualified for 8 Cups in their history, but this is only their second consecutively. They’ve made it to the quarter-finals on three separate occasions but those were all prior to 1954. At the 2006 Cup in Germany they cruised into the Round of 16 where they lost to Ukraine. Interestingly, they were the first team in the history of the Cup to get knocked out without conceding a goal – they lost to Ukraine in the Round of 16 on penalties.

They co-hosted the 2008 European Championship with Austria but turned in an absolutely dismal performance and didn’t advance out of the group stage.

They qualified for the 2010 tournament atop their group in Europe, which was admittedly a bit soft with Israel, Luxembourgh, Greece, Latvia, and Moldova. Even then it required them to win 6 of their last 8 games after drawing the first to Israel then losing the second to Luxembourgh. They’re very strong defensively, conceding only 8 goals in qualifying, but they’re not very prolific offensively, only scoring more than 2 goals on one occasion.

Players: You won’t find many household names on this squad. What you will find is a core of young players that could make some noise at this tournament. While none of the players who won the under-17 World Championship last year made the squad with the big boys, it points to a youthful trend in Swiss soccer.

Tranquillo Barnetta – Winger

One of the top young talents in Switzerland, at 25 Barnetta plays his club ball for Bayer Leverkusen. He was on the Swiss U-17 squad that won the European Championship in 2002 then got a call up to the senior team for the ’04 Euros, though he didn’t play a single minute. He was one of the best players for the Swiss in the ’06 Cup but missed his penalty shot against the Ukraine, which the Swiss eventually lost 0-3. He followed that up with a disappointing performance at the ’08 Euros on home soil so he has a lot to prove at this Cup. Even as young as he is, he’ll have the third most caps of any Swiss player at the tournament.

Alexander Frei – Striker

Scores better than one goal every other game for the Swiss team, having put the ball in the net 40 times in 73 caps. He’s one of the veterans on this young squad and will be looking to atone for missing out on the ’08 Euros after a knee injury in the opening match. At 31 he plays his club ball for FC Basel in Switzerland. An interesting side note – Frei was handed a 15-day suspension by UEFA back in 2004 after he was caught on camera spitting on my boy, Steven Gerrard, in a match in the European Championship. He appealed the suspension and was later acquitted after agreeing to take care of a llama, lamb, and sheep. What? He gets acquitted for spitting on the greatest central midfielder in the world by taking care of some farm animals? I don’t think so. If I ever see this guy I’m going to spit in his face then kick him in his llama.

Prediction: It’s conceivable they could upset Spain but truthfully they don’t deserve to wash the Spaniard’s jock straps. Realistically if they want to advance to the knockout round again this time they’ll need to take care of business against Honduras and Chile. Honduras should be easy buy Chile is a tough South American side. In fact, a Swiss/Chile match should actually be really competitive – Chile scores lots of goals and the Swiss don’t concede very many. Even if they do make it out of the group though they’re going to run into Brazil, and then it will be back to the Alps for them.