IN RECENT years, you’ve been able to rely on the Swiss national team like one of their watches.
They will always be there at major tournaments and always go out in the last 16.
Euro 2020 was the exception, when a remarkable comeback saw them recover from 2-0 down to beat France on penalties in the last 16.
A repeat looks unlikely.
Murat Yakin’s team made really heavy weather of qualifying, so much so that there was talk of him getting the sack.
A squad with plenty of players in top-level leagues need to punch its weight if they are to make the knockout stages.
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Manager: Murat Yakin
Former Basel coach who had a brush with Jose Mourinho in 2013, beating Chelsea in the Champions League.
Key man: Granit Xhaka
The Swiss captain makes everything tick and goes into Euro 2024 after the best season of his career, anchoring Bayer Leverkusen to their maiden German title.
What has always characterised him is that he thinks big and is not afraid to express his ambitions publicly.
Likely line-up
How they attack
We expect to see Switzerland to come into the tournament either playing in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 shape with a lot of experience throughout their squad.
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The Red Crosses are calm and composed when playing out from their first-line with their goalkeeper, Yann Mvogo of Lorient, showing ability with his feet.
We often see Switzerland breaking the press with their passes out from the first line before quickly launching aggressive attacking moves from that position.
Switzerland quickly move the ball wide or into the strikers feet or body before making runs to support this pass from deep.
Their midfielders will look to get forward to combine and break into the opposition area.
In the more established attacking phase of the game, when they have the opposition pressed back into their own defensive third, Switzerland will push multiple players forward into advanced positions to occupy space.
They will have options at different depths in the final third and across the width of the pitch to break down the opposition.
How they defend
From the defensive side of the game we expect to see a versatile and varied approach to defending from Switzerland this summer.
At times they will work and press in a high block to look for opportunities to regain possession but they are also comfortable when dropping back in and defending in a deeper block.
They are limiting the spaces that the opposition can play into between the lines with this kind of positioning.
They are versatile, however, and at times we expect to see Switzerland defending in a far more aggressive manner as they will look to push players forward to defend high and man to man.
When doing so they are difficult to play through because they still defend and work as a unit with few spaces between the lines.
With the ball in the touchline the man in possession can do nothing but put the ball out of play.
Again though Switzerland will be versatile in their defensive structure and at times they will defend in a medium block to shut off the centre of the pitch for the opposition.
By defending in such a varied way, Switzerland will be difficult to break down for teams this summer.
Prediction
Predicting the runners-up of Group A is a difficult task, with Hungary up there as favourites to finish second.
The Swiss might miss out on a top-two finish, but they could still progress to the knockout rounds as one of the four best third-placed nations.
But if Switzerland manage to win Group A, they will face the runners-up from Group C, which is likely to be Denmark.
If they succeed in that Round of 16 tie, their quarter-final opponents will be the winners of Group B, which many predict to be Spain.
Latest odds
Switzerland are at 80/1 odds to win Euro 2024, alongside Serbia and Hungary.
Glam fans and Wags
The Switzerland squad will be cheered on by a host of glamorous wives and girlfriends.
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Granit Xhaka’s long-term partner Leonita leads the list of names, with the pair tying the knot in 2017.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
