Swiss NT

I just noticed that the match Cyprus vs Switzerland in Nikosia is on Saturday, 17:30 GMT+1. That means it is the only EM quali match on Saturday as the others are all on Friday

All World Cup Quali matches this weekend:

Spoiler:

Squee! Ottmar Hitzfeld decided on his goalie for the Cyprus match and it is indeed Yann Sommer!



Source: http://www.blick.ch/sport/fussball/nati/nati-dreht-uhr-definitiv-auf-sommerzeit-id2243272.html
http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/sport/fussball/die-fifa-klaert-den-fall-hitzfeld-1.18049827

Swiss NT against Cyprus at 17:30 GMT+1 (in one hour, that is)

*sighs* FT: Cyprus 0:0 Switzerland

This was a match the Swiss could have won 7:0 if they had been able to score from point blanc range

So I can only focus on the plus side: another clean sheet for Yann Sommer!

Swiss NT Call-up for the World Cup Qualifier against Cyprus in Geneva on June 6, 2013:

Goal: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg/48 caps/0 goals), Yann Sommer (Basel/4/0). Marco Wölfli (Young Boys/11/0)

Defense: Johan Djourou (Hannover/40/1). Timm Klose (Nürnberg/6/0). Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus/56/2). Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg/13/0). Philippe Senderos (Fulham/48/5). Steve von Bergen (Palermo/34/0). Reto Ziegler (Fenerbahce/32/1)

Midfield/Forwards: Tranquillo Barnetta (Schalke/67/10). Valon Behrami (Napoli/40/2). Josip Drmic (Zürich/1/0). Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli/24/0). Innocent Emeghara (Siena/9/0). Mario Gavranovic (Zürich/6/4). Gökhan Inler (Napoli/65/6). Haris Seferovic (Novara/2/0). Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern München/25/7). Valentin Stocker (Basel/16/3). Granit Xhaka (Mönchengladbach/17/3)

---Behrami-------Dzemaili
Shaq---------Xhaka------Stocker
--------------Emeghara

Just realized Dzmaili-Inler-Behrami is Switzerland's best midfield and all of them are from Napoli.

Switzerland vs Cyprus, World Cup 2014 qualification

Match played in Geneva today







Unfortunately Yann Sommer had to make way for Diego Benaglio again

FT Schweiz 1:0 Cyprus

Swiss NT Call-up for the friendly against Brazil in Basel on August 14, 2013:

Goal: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg/49 caps/0 goals), Yann Sommer (Basel/4/0). Marco Wölfli (Young Boys/11/0)

Defense: Timm Klose (Wolfsburg/6/0). Michael Lang (Grasshopper Club/0/0), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus/57/2). Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg/14/0). Fabian Schär (Basel/0/0). Philippe Senderos (Fulham/48/5). Steve von Bergen (Young Boys/35/0)

Midfield/Forwards: Tranquillo Barnetta (Schalke/68/10). Valon Behrami (Napoli/41/2). Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli/25/0). Mario Gavranovic (Zürich/7/4). Gökhan Inler (Napoli/66/6). Admir Mehmedi (Freiburg/14/1). Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt/12/0). Haris Seferovic (Real Sociedad/3/1). Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern München/26/7). Valentin Stocker (Basel/17/3). Granit Xhaka (Mönchengladbach/17/3)

Switzerland vs Brazil (Friendly)





HT - Switzerland 0:0 Brazil

I hate it that Diego Benaglio is so good. If he continues that way, there will be no reason for Ottmar Hitzfeld to replace him with Yann Sommer anytime soon. -_-'

47.) 1:0 - Dani Alves (OG)

FT - Switzerland 1:0 Brazil

Switzerland actually managed to outplay the Brazilian team. Switzerland for World Cup 2014!

Swiss NT Call-up for the World Cup Qualifiers against Iceland (6. September in Bern) and Norway (10. September in Oslo):

Goal: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg/50 caps/0 goals), Yann Sommer (Basel/4/0). Marco Wölfli (Young Boys/11/0)

Defense: Timm Klose (Wolfsburg/7/0). Michael Lang (Grasshopper Club/1/0), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus/58/2). Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg/15/0). Fabian Schär (Basel/1/0). Philippe Senderos (Fulham/49/5). Steve von Bergen (Young Boys/35/0). Reto Ziegler (Sassuolo/32/1)

Midfield/Forwards: Tranquillo Barnetta (Schalke/69/10). Valon Behrami (Napoli/42/2). Josip Drmic (Nürnberg/2/0). Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli/26/0). Mario Gavranovic (Zürich/8/4). Gökhan Inler (Napoli/66/6). Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt/13/0). Haris Seferovic (Real Sociedad/4/1). Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern München/27/7). Valentin Stocker (Basel/18/3). Granit Xhaka (Mönchengladbach/18/3). Steven Zuber (ZSKA Moskau/0/0).

Swiss line-up against Iceland in Bern, Switzerland:

Benaglio; Lichtsteiner, Schär, Von Bergen, Rodriguez; Behrami, Dzemaili; Shaqiri, Xhaka, Stocker; Seferovic.

Official stream:
http://football.ch/de/SFV-Play/A-Team-Schweiz-Island.aspx/tg-1973871/





03.) 0:1 - Johann Gudmundsson
15.) 1:1 - Stephan Lichtsteiner
27.) 2:1 - Fabian Schär
30.) 3:1 - Stephan Lichtsteiner
54.) 4:1 - Blerim Dzemaili (PK)
56.) 4:2 - Kolbeinn Sigthorsson
68.) 4:3 - Johann Gudmundsson
90+2) 4:4 - Johann Gudmundsson

FT - Switzerland 4:4 Iceland

Please excuse me for a couple of minutes while I smash my head repeatedly onto the desk. I had a decided déjà-vu of the Germany-Sweden qualifier that ended 4:4 after Germany was up 4:0... :faepalm:

World Cup Qualifier Norway vs Switzerland
Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo/Norway, Kick-off 19:00 GMT+2

Norway: Jarstein; Högli, Björdal, Hangeland, Ruud; Nordtveit; Johansen, Eikrem, Braaten; Elyounoussi, Pedersen.

Switzerland: Benaglio; Rodriguez, von Bergen, Schär, Lichtsteiner; Behrami, Inler; Stocker, Xhaka, Shaqiri; Seferovic.

12.) 0:1 - Fabian Schär
51.) 0:2 - Fabian Schär

FT - Norway 0:2 Switzerland

Swiss NT Call-up for the upcoming matches in October:


(click to enlarge)

Qualified with one match to spare!

Cheated against Albania

Or I should say they were helped a bit by the linesman.

Anyway, absolutely deserved to be top, Hitzfeld is a great manager - one of the best in the world. I wish them luck in the World Cup, especially Shaqiri, Xhaka, Behrami, Mehmedi etc...

Squee! My favourite Swiss goalie gets his 5th cap today in the match against Slovenia!





Only goal so far: Granit Xhaka in the 74th minute.

But what a match by Samir Handanovic!


MotM performance despite the goal against

Oh, and while I'm at it - Yann Sommer of course held the result for Switzerland:


FT: Switzerland 1:0 Slovenia

Xhaka really played on right-wing?  

Well, that's what they showed on TV. Xhaka could be seen in the middle quite a bit, though, so I'm not so sure if that pic was 100% correct.

Oh, by the way, as Italy only drew against Armenia, it looks as if Switzerland really managed to get into the Pot with the top seeds for the World Cup!


Happy Swiss Players after the match in the team bus

Friendly Match South Korea vs Switzerland

South Korea: S. Kim, J. Hong, H. Jang, S. Ki, B. Kim, J. Kim, S. Kim, Y. Kim, C. Lee, Y. Lee, H. Son (Blick.ch obviously were not quite specific there ^^)

Switzerland: Benaglio; Lang, Schär, Von Bergen, Ziegler; Dzemaili, Inler; Barnetta, Xhaka, Kasami; Seferovic.

Goals:
06.) 0:1 - Pajtim Kasami
58.) 1:1 - HONG Jeong Ho
86.) 2:1 - LEE Chung Yong

FT - South Korea 2:1 Switzerland

This defeat ended the 14 matches unbeaten streak by the Swiss NT (which included wins against Germany and Brazil).

Switzerland climbed to a stunning 6th rank in the FIFA World ranking.



http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/rankingtable/index.html?intcmp=fifacom_hp_module_ranking

Swiss NT Call-up for the friendly against Croatia in St.Gallen, Switzerland on Mar 5, 2014:



The match will be streamed for free at http://www.sfvplay.ch/de/SFV-Play-Live.aspx

Update - Starting line-up:

By the way, Ottmar Hitzfeld really should reconsider the ranking of his GKs. Yann Sommer should so be the Nr.1 for this World Cup...

Which Rodriguez is this? It's the WhoScored legend

Did'nt know Drmic is Swiss, damn Switzerland has a good team. How is Xhaka doing btw?

Defence is weak though, Djorou

Well, Switzerland are pitch black horses for the World Cup as even the dark horse hipsters don't really have them on their radar.

It's VfL Wolfsburg's Ricardo Rodriguez. More than half of the Swiss NT play in the Bundesliga.

Granit Xhaka is doing so-so. Could be better, but he is improving slowly. (There are two Xhakas, btw. His brother Taulant is playing for FC Basel)

As for the defense - once Fabian Schär is back to full health, it will look considerably better. (He is still not 100% fit again after some injuries and thus wasn't convincing in Basel's defeat against Valencia).

BTW, don't get deceived by the names - the Swiss defense was one of the very best in the World Cup qualification.