Now against Togo

Well, much has been said and written since the France game. On this blog, people seem not to think much of the Swiss performance against France - as a general sentiment of ‘we want to see many goals’ is always taking over, when countries with high-scoring sports participate in the WC. Others, maybe more qualified people, actually regarded the Swiss performance very high for it’s coolness (especially as being the second youngest team in Germany) and discipline. Nono, I don’t put myself above everybody else: these are the impressions of Gunther Netzer and Arsene Wenger. Glad to have these guys having a similar opinon as I do.

But let’s leave the France game behind and look forward to Togo on Monday. Well, at a World Cup during the group stage it’s difficult to do that. The good news is, Ludovic Magnin is recovering from his minor but painfull injury and is expected to be playing against Togo. Magnin also raised a good point concerning the rules. He got booked for nothing at all during the France game and said, that it’s very strange that players can be penalised after a game, if officials detect a clear offence that hasn’t been spotet by the Ref, but nobody can take an unjustified card of him. But he’s not pouting and said also, that he won’t hold back during the Togo game and if he happens to miss the Korea game, so be it.
Which brings us to some bad news: a viable replacement for Magnin would be Valeron Berahmi. But it seems that he can’t get past his injury and is very unlikely to play in the next two games. Both players are very disciplined defensivly and can take the ball to the opponents box as well.

Generally, the yellow cards will be a worry in the last game against Korea. We conceded 5 yellow cards during the France game and this could hurt us - especially if Frei picks up a second during the Togo game, as we are a LITTLE shot up there in front. Let’s hope Frei stays disciplined this time!

Yep, and this leads into ‘how are we going to play against Togo’. Obviously it’s going to be a different game than against France. Now we’re the favorites and now a draw will not be good enough. While technically, Kuhn (who has the flu, as you can see on the picture) could play the same 11 and just let them go more offensively. I believe, that this squad has attacking power, but didn’t dare to unleash against France for fear of loosing. However, I would like to see a little bit more guts in the starting 11 alone. The option obviously is to start with Frei and Streller upfront and having Gygax behind them, leaving Wicky (whom I personally regard highly) on the bench. Gygax can take on a player and has an attacking gene. But then what I personally missed during the France game - and generally a bit in the Swiss team - is the lack of surprise and genious. We’re solid and can paly forward, but if the opponent plays disciplined, we’re lacking the object of surprise. And we do have the answer to this on the bench with Hakan Yakin. As we we can expect Togo to be not overly disciplined in the back, I personally would play Gygax during the Togo game (and bring Yakin if necessary) and start Yakin against France, as they definitely will be disciplined in the defense and we’ll need somebody who can up with one or two strokes of genious (be that a pass, a proveked foul or a free kick - which are all Yakin trademarks) - even if that means that the team has to work harder in order to make up for Yakin’s lack of defensive commitment.

We shall see how Kobi decides. As always, he doesn’t let anybody have look in his hand (not even the players). Surprise us with some guts, Kobi.