UEFA EURO 2016: Switzerland team preview

In qualifying for EURO 2016 Switzerland have made it to their fourth European Championships, although their record in the competition leaves plenty to be desired. It took the Swiss until 1996 to qualify for this tournament, and in making it to the finals on three occasions since (including this time) they are yet to progress past the group stages.

This time around, while Switzerland aren’t exactly one of the fancied sides, they haven’t been totally disregarded and at a general price of 66/1 they find themselves pretty much in the middle of the pack as far as the betting goes.

In comparison with years gone by the current Swiss squad looks fairly strong. Of course this is all relative, because in contrast to some of the bigger nations they seem to lack real top quality, although the majority do ply their trade in Europe’s top divisions, even if it isn’t necessarily for the top clubs in those divisions.

EURO 2016 Squad

Goalkeepers: Roman Bürki (Dortmund), Marwin Hitz (Augsburg), Yann Sommer (Mönchengladbach).

Defenders: Johan Djourou (Hamburg), Nico Elvedi (Mönchengladbach), Michael Lang (Basel), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), François Moubandje (Toulouse), Ricardo Rodríguez (Wolfsburg), Fabian Schär (Hoffenheim), Steve von Bergen (Young Boys).

Midfielders: Valon Behrami (Watford), Blerim Dzemaili (Genoa), Gelson Fernandes (Rennes), Fabian Frei (Mainz), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City), Granit Xhaka (Mönchengladbach), Denis Zakaria (Young Boys).

Forwards: Eren Derdiyok (Kasımpaşa), Admir Mehmedi (Leverkusen), Breel Embolo (Basel), Haris Seferovic (Frankfurt), Shani Tarashaj (Grasshoppers).

Key Player: Granit Xhaka

In terms of importance there isn’t too much between Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, although Xhaka has enjoyed the better season domestically and, just as he has been at club level, will be an integral part of anything Switzerland manage to achieve at these finals. The 23 year old comes into this tournament having recently secured a move to Premier League club Arsenal after making a big impression in the Bundesliga for Gladbach over the past two seasons.

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Not only is the central midfielder a high energy player who’s equally adept when it comes to winning back possession and finding the right pass, he’s also no stranger when it comes to scoring from range. Since making his debut for the national team back in 2011 Xhaka has become the heart and soul of the Swiss midfield and is likely to play a big part for his country in France.

Qualifying 

As part of what was perhaps one of the easiest qualifying groups making the cut for these finals wasn’t an overly difficult task for Switzerland. They were unable to match England and were duly defeated in both games against the group winners (0-2 & 2-0), but from their other eight games they only dropped one point and thus qualified automatically in second place, five points clear of third placed Slovenia.

Group Matches 

Albania v Switzerland – 11 June, 2016

Romania v Switzerland – 15 June, 2016

Switzerland v France – 19 June, 2016

Click here for the full Euro 2016 match schedule. 

Verdict

Having been thrown into Group A together with tournament hosts France and two of the lesser fancied teams in Romania and Albania, Switzerland are expected to make it out of this group and are very much considered as the second favourites to go through in first place. If they are to justify this then their performances will probably need to improve. They weren’t tested in qualifying and have shown patchy form in the games played since.

As for a bet that relates to the Swiss, the one that makes most appeal comes in their opening game against Albania. This is both teams to score at what looks a very generous price of 6/4.

On their day Switzerland are a good attacking side and there won’t be many people who aren’t expecting them to score against tournament first timers Albania. Given that they’ve scored in seven of their last 10, coupled with the fact that they’ll come into this as strong favourites, you’d expect the Swiss to offer a fairly significant attacking threat and it would be a tad disappointing if they couldn’t find the net.

On the other hand though, Albania certainly shouldn’t be discounted in this one and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if they too were to score. Especially since the Swiss haven’t exactly showcased great defensive qualities of late. They’ve let in a total of 14 goals in their last 10 (conceding in eight). The Albanians managed to score seven goals in their seven qualifying matches and made a bit of a name for themselves as a team who like to play on the counter. And it is on the counter, against an attacking side who have a habit of conceding goals, where they are likely to find joy here.

When Switzerland walk out against Albania on the first Saturday of EURO 2016 the bet to be on is both teams to score.