World Cup Preview - Group G - Switzerland
Switzerland:
Coach: Jakob Kuhn.
Game Schedule:
June 13 – Switzerland vs. France (12 p.m. EST)
June 19 – Switzerland vs. Togo (9 a.m.)
June 23 – Switzerland vs. South Korea (3 p.m.)
Prospects: Switzerland gained passage to Germany ’06 by the thinnest of margins – on the away goals rule in a play-off fixture with Turkey in the fall. This is the first Swiss entry since USA ’94 when they were narrowly edged out of qualifying for the second round by the hosts. Kuhn’s side has a healthy mix of youth and experience – much of in the Bundesliga – but few established international stars. Their friendly 1-1 draw with Italy yesterday showed them to be hard tackling and tough to break down. However, they’ll not bring much excitement to the tournament. One major weakness is goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuehler’s flappiness on balls into the area. In the end, their tournament will rise and fall on their ability to keep the French out in the first game. If they can get a draw, they’ll likely beat Togo. Four points might well do it in this tight group.
Key Player: Captain Johan Vogel, who plays a right-sided midfield role at Milan.
Youngster to watch: Twenty year old Johan Vonlanthen. Five goals in 17 appearances already for the Swiss.
Who Will Get the Goals: Striker Alexander Frei, whose been rattling in the goals for both country and in Ligue 1 for Rennes.
He’s closing in on top scorer for his country.
Who Will Get the Cards: Arsenal’s Philippe Senderos.
Funniest Name: There are some classics here: Blerim Dzemaili, Raphael Wicky, Christoph Spycher. But my favorite is goalkeeper Zuberbuehler.
Prediction: Knocked out in the last match against the Koreas. Close to qualifying for the Round of Sixteen but not quite enough.
posted by gatorbob @ 1:59 PM
6 Comments:
You cannae get away with putting up my boy Phillip as the card-magnet without some qualification here. That's not on. Besides, don't the Swiss still run out those Turkish brothers that they've naturalized? Those boys know a yellow when they see it.
Vonlanthan may be one of the players out for the cup. He's seriously nobbled.
I've got the Swiss as dark-horse contenders to go through with Korea. Something about France depending so much on TH14 doesn't sit well with me.
I've got nothing against Philippe per se; it's just that he's the lynchpin at the center of defense for the Swiss and I reckon they could be under serious pressure from the French and the Koreans.
I'll have to do the research on Vonlanthen. He wasn't mentioned in the recent article that I read about injuries. I'd like to see more of him. Looks a good player.
I think you can find the Vonlanthen link on the GuardianUnlimited. That's bound to be where I saw it.
Nope, not good enough rationale to hang "card-magnet" on Sendaros. Start again!
If Philippe doesn't pick up the cards this month, I'll apologize to the lad, alright, Arsene?
Well, I think you are being a bit harsh.
I really enjoyed looking at your site, I found it very helpful indeed, keep up the good work.
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