Swiss Squad for the World Cup – Epilogue (i) – Panini’s Selection

April 15th, 2010 | by: Adrian | Comments Off

Recently, one of the world’s leading brand of stickers – Panini – renowned for their football stickers, have now released their collection for this summer’s World Cup, which can be viewed here.

Panini have somewhat of a reputation – they have famously given their predictions for the World Cup squads (much like I have spent doing the past 4 weeks) – and have proven to be very accurate.

So, I thought that, after having completed my 23-man selection, it would be a good idea to compare what the experts at Panini think.

However, the sticker giants have only provided 17 of the 23 man squad, byt nevertheless, lets compare:

First, a look at my 23:

…and a look at Panini’s 17:

First of all, I was surprised at the use of Helvetia for the Swiss team (Helvetia is the latin name for the area in Europe, during Roman times, where Switzerland presently exists [in other words, the old Roman name for Switzerland]).

It’s important to note that this is only a provisional 17-man squad, meaning that there are still 6 spots up for grab (playing it safe by Panini). So who will make up this six? Well, there’s only one goalkeeper, and typically teams choose to bring three…that leaves 2 of 6 places gone…and the other 4?

My guess’d be 2 defenders, and one midfielder and striker each.

But already, anyone will notice that Panini have included FC Zürich’s Johan Vonlanthen, a player I omitted in favour of Moreno Costanzo of FC Sankt Gallen (as he has scored more goals than Vonlanthen this term).

Otherwise, if I were Mario Eggimann, Reto Ziegler, or Marco Streller – I wouldn’t be worried. (Eggimann because he’s a great talent for Hannover; Ziegler because he’s a starting player for Sampdoria – while team-mate Marco Padalino isn’t but still makes the Panini XVII; Streller because he’s second highest scorer in the Swiss League).

Johan Djourou’s place may come under threat during the last couple games of the Premier League season – but I think Hitzfeld’s admiration for him will also shine through – he shouldn’t worry either.

So there we go…Panini have largely the same ideas as I have: Picking a similar XVII out of my XXIII – the remaining six players ought to be the ones I originally selected…barring any unforeseen injuries.

Keep sending in those comments!

HOPP SCHWIIZ!