Looking Ahead

Nominations have been made. The team has gathered. Now let’s have a look what lies ahead of the Swiss team.

Amidst all the fuss about individual players, their form and their nominations, we completely forgot about looking ahead. So what’s happening with the Swiss in the next few weeks?

Obviously, they are gonna work on their tactical skills and stuff. And then there are three test games.

27.05.06 Schweiz – Ivory Coast (in Basel )
31.05.06 Schweiz – Italy (in Geneva)
03.06.06 Schweiz – China (in Zurich)

The friendly opponents have been chosen carfully. The Ivory Coast team is not only a fellow WC06 participant, but will also be the team which let’s the Swiss squad simulate playing Togo during the Group stage. This is of particular importance, as we 1. have never played Togo before and 2. the last match Switzerland played against a Sub-Saharan team was on the 6th December 1983 against Kenya.
Italy, ah Italia. It’s always fun to play Italy. You know, it’s a neighbour and there are plenty of Italians living in Switzerland. It’s sort of a derby (I feel, it’s more of a derby against Italy than against Germany). Again, it’s a team which qualified for the WC – so that alone should provide for a good test. But additionally, it’s a team that is rated much higher than Switzerland, which will let us test our nerves against favorites like France…and hopfully later more of them!
China is supposed to give the team some experience with East Asian teams, as we’re facing South Korea in the group stage – and that’s probably going to be the crucial game for qualifying for the next round anyways. I doubt that China can provide the strength to stand-in for the Korean, but it might be helpful anyways.

And then yeah, then the tournament starts. I don’t want to go too much into possible results in the group stage. It’s all circumstancial: the days form, injuries, a bit of luck. You know, excactely what we love about a Football WC: anything is possible. In my opinon, if all goes ‘normal’, Switzerland should qualify for the next round. We did hold France twice in competitive matches now. We can do it again. And we should be able to beat both, the Koreans and Togo.

But what lies ahead is a bit scary. IF we qualify for the next round, chances are that we’re facing Spain. Not Spain. Anybody but Spain. If I’m not mistaken, we’ve neven beaten Spain – not even in a friendly. The last draw goes back to a friendly on 05.06.1988 in Basel. And even the draws are rare (15 losses, 3 draws, 0 victories). Which makes our goal clear: assuming that Spain finishes 1st in their group (with Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Tunesia), Switzerland has to come f irst in our group!

Let the tournament begin.