Swiss NT

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.

Swiss NT World Cup 2014 Call-up:

Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg/GER), Roman Bürki (Grasshopper Club), Yann Sommer (Basel)

Defenders: Johan Djourou (Hamburg/GER), Michael Lang (Grasshopper Club), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus/ITA), Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg), Fabian Schär (Basel), Philippe Senderos (Valencia/ESP), Steve von Bergen (Young Boys), Reto Ziegler (Sassuolo/ITA)

Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER), Valon Behrami (Napoli), Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli), Gelson Fernandes (Freiburg/GER), Gökhan Inler (Napoli), Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern München/GER), Valentin Stocker (Basel)

Forwards: Josip Drmic (Nürnberg/GER), Mario Gavranovic (Zürich), Admir Mehmedi (Freiburg), Haris Seferovic (Real Sociedad/ESP), Granit Xhaka (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER)


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Switzerland 1:0 Jamaica
(Friendly in Luzern at the 30.05.2014)

Initial line-up for Switzerland:


And by half time, Hitzfeld decided to use up his subs and so Yann Sommer (46. for Diego Benaglio), Gökhan Inler (46. for Valon Behrami), Josip Drmic (46. for Haris Seferovic), Valentin Stocker (64. for Admir Mehmedi), Gelson Fernandes (72. for Xherdan Shaqiri), and Ricardo Rodriguez (83. for Reto Ziegler) got a bit of playing time, too.

It was not a very eventful match and if it hadn't been for Josip Drmic's goal in the 83rd minute, we'd have been treated for another boring scoreless draw. Neither Benaglio (okay, one situation was a bit dangerous) nor Sommer had anything to do.


Diego Benaglio congratulates Yann Sommer for their joint clean sheet

I'm really confused. I thought Xhaka is a DM/CM. It appears he is AM/Winger/FW. Don't know how I messed this up!!!

Well, the problem is that Granit Xhaka is neither a proper DM/CM nor a proper AM. His best position is somewhere between these two and that's why it is so difficult for coaches to get the best of him.

In Germany we say DM/CM is a "6" and AM is a "10" - and Xhaka's best position is called an "8" - unfortunately this is not too often used nowadays.

I'm totally not amused. The new Swiss NT coach Vladimir Petkovic decided he wants to keep Diego Benaglio as Nr.1 and Yann Sommer as Nr.2

Moreover, instead of going for a fresh start, Petkovic also stated that he would keep Gökhan Inler as captain.

Source: https://www.tageswoche.ch/de/2014_31/sport/664936/Der-neue-Nationaltrainer-l%C3%A4sst-alles-beim-Alten.htm

Diego Benaglio retires from the Swiss NT. He wants to concentrate on his club career and have more time for his family.

Source: http://www.transfermarkt.de/benaglio-tritt-aus-schweizer-nationalelf-zuruck/view/news/169986

Yay! Now Yann Sommer will be the Nr.1

rwo power wrote:Diego Benaglio retires from the Swiss NT. He wants to concentrate on his club career and have more time for his family.

Source: http://www.transfermarkt.de/benaglio-tritt-aus-schweizer-nationalelf-zuruck/view/news/169986

Yay! Now Yann Sommer will be the Nr.1

I wasn't very impressed with him during the WC. He was the keeper during the WC, right??? Probably you have hyped Sommer so much that I expected Benaglio to be the second coming of Dasayev.

Well, Diego Benago has been the Nr.1 for Switzerland since after the World Cup 2006, but frankly, I thought that Yann Sommer would have been the better choice to start for Switzerland in Brazil. But then, Ottmar Hitzfeld was obviously too conservative and decided to stay with Benaglio even though he had - in my opinion - a better keeper available.

I was very disappointed when the new coach of the Swiss NT at first said he wanted to keep Benaglio as Nr.1, because he thought he didn't have enough time to shake up the hierarchy before the first Euro qualification match in September and because he considered Benaglio as a long-time leader in the team.

Fortunately by retiring, Benaglio made the way free for Yann Sommer now.

Swiss NT Call-up for the upcoming match in September:


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Now it's official - Yann Sommer is the new Nr.1 of the Swiss NT

http://www.20min.ch/sport/fussball/story/3-Neulinge-im-Kader-und-Sommer-als-Nummer-1-28152221

The Swiss NT assembles their players:

http://www.blick.ch/sport/fussball/nati/zusammenzug-in-feusisberg-die-autoparade-der-nati-stars-id3096249.html

Most players arrive in bigger cars on their own, only Fabian Schär, Yann Sommer and Fabian Frei arrive together in probably the smallest car

Having fun at the first training session:


http://www.20min.ch/ro/sports/football/story/Le-nouveau-taulier-Yann-Sommer-tout---son-bonheur-10530600

Maybe I should also try my hand putting together a possible line-up of the Swiss NT for the Euro qualifier against England:


*) Currently in doubt due to injury problems, though.

They're only a few quality players away from a great team.

Another winger, a CB and a CF and they'd be a frightening team.

Yeah. And another drawback at the moment are the injury problems of Valon Behrami and Admir Mehmedi, although it is hoped that they will be fit by Monday.

And maybe Josip Drmic can develop into the CF they need, but for that he didn't choose the best club with Leverkusen as it will be difficult for him to get past Stefan Kießling.

It's a pity that Valentin Stocker currently has a dip in form as he was quite useful on the wing at Basel, but so far he has yet to play for Hertha's main team.

The Swiss attacking mids and wings are a bit tricky in any case. Granit Xhaka probably is better off in the middle and Xherdan Shaqiri on the right wing, but for Switzerland it was mostly Shaqiri in the middle of the action. But on the other hand it makes them pretty fluid.

I haven't seen Djorou playing for years. Cant even remember whether he was on pitch against Argentina!

Well, frankly, when I watched Switzerland or HSV, I haven't really seen Djourou play either. (There is a reason why Kick said the Swiss NT lacks another CB...)

New team photo of the Swiss NT:


(click to enlarge)

The Euro2016 qualifier Switzerland - England on Monday 8 Sep 2014 st 20:45 GMT+2 will be streamed for free at http://www.sfvplay.ch/de/SFV-Play-Live.aspx

Switzerland vs England
Euro 2016 qualifier in St.Jakob-Park,  Basel, 08 Sep 2014

Switzerland: Sommer; Lichtsteiner, Djourou, Von Bergen, Rodriguez; Behrami, Inler (c), Xhaka; Shaqiri, Seferovic, Mehmedi.

England: Hart; Stones, Cahill, Jones, Baines; Sterling, Henderson, Wilshere, Delph; Welbeck, Rooney (c).

Goals:
58.) 0:1 - Danny Welbeck
90+4) 0:2 - Danny Welbeck

FT - Switzerland 0:2 England

The only solace I have with the result is that the goals were definitely unsaveable for Yann Sommer.


The first match as Switzerland's Nr.1

Has Schar not earned a spot on this team yet? Kind of odd. He seems so dominant.

Well, personally I think Johan Djourou has no spot in the Swiss NT whatsoever and Fabian Schär should play, too. But then, the ways of coaches are often mysterious...

Source https://twitter.com/Bundesliga_EN

Slovenia vs Switzerland
(Euro 2016 Qualification march)

Line-Ups:

Spoiler:

Nothing to do so far - maybe he should have brought something to read.  ^^

Goal:
79.) 1:0 - Novakovic (PK)

FT - Slovenia 1:0 Switzerland

Great. This was just the game a GK has nightmares about. 1 kick on goal, one goal scored. The worst thing was the it was such a stupid penalty to concede! Johan Djourou had to trip Kampl when Yann Sommer actually had the ball secured in the same instant...



Unfortunately this time Sommer didn't live up to his penalty killer moniker even though he guessed the corner - but Novakovic placed the shot too well.

This was such an unnecessary defeat. Switzerland had 10 corners and 18 shots on goal (6 of them on target), while Slovenia had exactly one shot on target and that was the winner. Perfect.

San Marino vs Switzerland
(Euro 2016 Qualification march)

San Marino: Simoncini A., Bonini G., Vitaioli F., Della Valle A., Brolli C., Battistini M., Palazzi M., Gasperoni A., Chiaruzzi N., Vitaioli M., Stefanelli M. - Einwechslungen: Cervellini M. (17. für Vitaioli F.), Hirsch A. (61. für Vitaioli M.), Gasperoni L. (69. für Gasperoni A.).





Switzerland: Sommer Y., Lichtsteiner S., von Bergen S., Djourou J., Rodriguez R., Kasami P., Xhaka G., Dzemaili B., Shaqiri X., Seferovic H., Drmic J. - Einwechslungen: Mehmedi A. (46. für Drmic J.), Widmer S. (59. für Lichtsteiner S.), Barnetta T. (72. für Kasami P.).





Goals:
10.) 0:1 - Haris Seferovic
24.) 0:2 - Haris Seferovic
30.) 0:3 - Blerim Dzemaili
79.) 0:4 - Xherdan Shaqiri

FT - San Marino 0:4 Switzerland

San Marino's goalie was really great today and even saved a penalty.