Euro 2008 Team Profile: Switzerland (HOPP SCHWIIZ!!)

Dear Laurie, I’m using the same template you used for the France team (hope you don’t mind).

Group: A; Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey. All games played in Basel and Geneva.

Nickname: La Nati (The National Team), also Rossocrociati (Red-Crossed),

Jersey: Red (Home) White (Away), manufactured by Puma

FIFA RANKING: 48th (as of April 2008), Highest Ranking: 3rd (Aug 1993), Lowest Ranking: 83rd (December 1998)

Most Caps : Heinz Hermann (117, 1978-1991), Alan Geiger (112, 1980-1996), Stéphane Chapuisat (103, 1989-2004), Johann Vogel (94, 1995-2006)

Most Goals: K. Turkyilmaz and M. Abegglen (34), A. Frei is on 32.

First International: France - Switzerland 1-0 (12th February 1905)

Biggest Win: Switzerland - Lithuania 9-0 (25th May 1924)

Biggest Defeat: Hungary - Switzerland 9-0 (29th October 1911)

World Cup Record: 8 appearances (1934 - Quarterfinals, 1938 - Quarterfinals, 1950, 1954 - Quarterfinals, 1962, 1966, 1994, 2006)

European Championship Record: 2 appearances (1996, 2004)

Trophies: Silver Medal Olympic Games (Paris 1924), 2002 European Under-17 Championship (4-2 penalty shootout over France), Semifinals Under-21 Tournament (2002, 2004)

Stadia: Stade de Suisse Wankdorf in Bern (74 games since 1911), St. Jakob Park in Basel (72 games since 1908), Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich (63 games since 1911). Other games have been played in Lausanne, Geneva (Euro 2008 Stadium), Skt. Gallen, Luzern, Lancy, Lugano, Neuchatel, Sion, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Aarau, Bellinzona.

Results: (updated to June 2007) 211 wins, 146 draws, 313 defeats, 956 goals scored, 1235 goals conceded

Coach: Jakob “Koebi” Kuhn, born on the 12th of October 1943 in Zurich, former Swiss player (63 caps, 5 goals) and Zurich player (500 games). First “homegrown” coach since 1989, led the Swiss team to Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006. Prior to becoming First Coach of the Swiss National Team, he coached the under-21 team.
He’s not afraid to keep legends of Swiss football on the bench (Chapuisat, Henchoz, now Vogel) and from time to time (depending on the national mood) he’s seen as the “Good Father” of the Swiss footballing nation. His assistants are Michel Pont, Pierluigi Tami and Erich Burgener (goalkeeper coach).

Captain: Alexander Frei (who else?)

History: Switzerland played its first game in 1905 losing 1-0 to France in Paris. Their first World Cup appearance was a glorious one, reaching the quarterfinals after defeating the Netherlands 3-2. 4 years later Switzerland defeated Nazi Germany in a rematch with a 4-2 score before losing 2-0 to Hungary in the quarterfinals.
In the 1950 World Cup the team lost 3-0 to Jugoslavia before drawing with Brazil 2-2 and defeating Mexico 2-1. Yet it wasn’t enough to qualify for the next round.
In 1954 the World Cup was hosted by Switzerland and the team managed to kick out Italy with a superb 4-1 score. In the quarter-finals an incredible defeat to neighbours Austria, with a 7-5 score, ended the dream.
Between 1966 and 1990 Switzerland entered a long crisis, failing to qualify for any major tournament. In 1994 Switzerland qualified for the American World Cup, defeating Romania 4-1, drawing with the US and losing to Colombia. In the 4th round, however, they were defeated by a strong Spanish team. In 1996, at the English European Championship Tournament, following an excellent game against England (1-1) two defeats with Scotland and Holland were enough to end the campaign miserably.
Following this tournament Switzerland failed to qualify to any tournament until Euro 2004. Switzerland qualified from a hard group that included Russia and Austria but once again failed to impress at the major event. A draw with Croatia was followed by two heavy defeats with France and England.
World Cup 2006 saw the incredible play-off game with Turkey. A 2-0 defeat of Hakan Sukur and co. was followed by a 4-2 defeat in Istanbul. The away goal rule was enough to see Switzerland through. The game was ended by a horrible street-fighting between Swiss and Turkish players. In World Cup 2006 Switzerland topped its group after drawing with France and defeating Togo and Korea with 2-0 scores.
In the 4th round however a goalless penalty shootout ended Switzerland run making it also the first team to be eliminated from a World Cup tournament without conceding a single goal (and many thanks go to an extraordinary Zuberbuehler for that one). A very disappointing end indeed because had Switzerland defeated Ukraine they would have faced Italy in the Quarter finals and prior to the World Cup, Switzerland had played an excellent game against the future champions, 1-1 with an extraordinary goal by D. Gygax. One thing’s for sure: Switzerland would have not lost 3-0 to the Italians. A semifinal spot wouldn’t have been too much of a utopia.

Golden Player: Uefa.com chose Stéphane Chapuisat as Switzerland’s most outstanding player for the past 50 years (I still have a Swiss jersey with Chapuisat’s name on the back). He is the only Swiss player to have won a Champions’ League (with Borussia Dortmund in 1997, I also have that shirt). A nightmare for many defenders and a favourite of Swiss and German crowds, Chapuisat has been chosen as an Ambassador for Euro 2008.

Expectations: Kuhn has often said that Switzerland aims to win the trophy, although more realistically I would envisage a quarter-final or even semi-final berth. Kuhn has stated: “Success would be to reach the quarter-finals. Of course it won’t be easy, but that has to be our goal. Four years ago, when we really hit a low point, I developed an internal strategy with the title ‘European champions 2008′. That was being very optimistic but we have to strive towards big goals and go out there with the necessary confidence to deal with these challenges.” The group is certainly not a nightmarish one, after defeating the Netherlands, drawing with Argentina and barely losing to Brazil (all friendlies) Switzerland has proved that with the right spirit they shouldn’t fear the likes of Turkey, Czech Republic and Portugal. I believe that a win and two draws will be Switzerland’s ambition.

Key Player: Well, it would certainly be Frei. A world-class player, one of those rare extraordinary strikers who combines quality and quantity. If anyone needs to be reminded of his deeds watch the video below:

Other key players could be G. Inler, B. N’Kufo and H. Yakin.

Who you won’t see: Former Captain Vogel won’t be around for his country’s biggest sports event ever. Add to that the likes of Dzemaili (who has played very little in England) and Celestini whose club Getafe has surprised Spain, and Europe. The player I regret not seeing is Haeberli, the Young Boys striker has had a wonderful season.

Squad: The temporary 26-player list has been announced

Blogger Team: I’m Jan and I will be the Switzerland blogger throughout this hot, very hot summer. If anyone wants to join the team (especially someone who understands Schwitzerdutsch better than I do) please let me know.

We want to see scenes like this at Euro 2008: