World Cup Countdown: The ones to watch for Switzerland
We continue our World Cup countdown and after focusing on Brazil and Serbia, we look into Group E rivals Switzerland.
Switzerland secured their spot in Russia in controversial circumstances after overcoming Northern Ireland 1-0 over two legs in their playoff meeting. Ricardo Rodriguez scored the decisive penalty for the Swiss after they finished second in Group B to Portugal. Their only defeat came to the European champions, who topped their group with 27 points of 30 available.
However, while Switzerland impressed in qualifying, they were handed the luck of the draw in their bid to guarantee a spot at Russia 2018. Along with Portugal, they faced Hungary, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Andorra, hardly the most testing of opponents, noted in their nine wins from 10 matches.
With Brazil the favourites to progress from Group E, they’ll be competing with Serbia and Costa Rica for a spot in the next round of Russia 2018. They did well to progress to the quarter-finals of Brazil 2014 before their 1-0 extra time defeat to eventual runners’ up Argentina, with a late Angel Di Maria strike ending Switzerland’s hopes of success.
Xherdan Shaqiri was a key man four years ago, as he scored three goals in four appearances in south America to return a WhoScored.com rating of 7.74. Despite Stoke’s relegation, the attacker comes into the World Cup in good form, having had a direct hand in 15 of the 35 league goals the Potters scored (42.9%) this season.
He’ll hope to carry his good form into the World Cup, with his dead-ball delivery a key trait for the 26-year-old. His 32 key passes from set-piece situations was the fifth best in the Premier League this season to reinforce a statistically calculated WhoScored.com strength of ‘taking set-pieces’. A strong showing in Russia will also help Shaqiri put his name in the shop window as he looks to secure a move away from Stoke having dropped down into the Championship.
Shaqiri will hope to maximise his attacking class, but needs a defensive foundation to provide support and ensure Switzerland don’t get commit too many men forward. Denis Zakaria enjoyed a commendable campaign for Bundesliga side Gladbach and is a towering presence in the middle of the park. His 2.5 tackles per game was second to Christoph Kramer (3.3) of all Gladbach players this season, while a pass success rate of 89.3% reinforces both his ball winning quality and ability to successfully recycle possession.
If he can carry out both duties with aplomb in Russia next month, Shaqiri, among others, will benefit from a solid defensive standing to allow Switzerland’s attacking stars to express themselves in the final third. Having eased their way to the World Cup, they’ll need to up their game in order to progress beyond the group stages. If their ones to watch can play to the standards expected of them, Switzerland’s chances of success increase significantly.
