Switzerland – Israel Preview (UPDATED LiveBlog)

The Hitzfeld era will officially be unveiled this evening as Switzerland defy Israel in Tel Aviv.
Not an easy start for the new coach against one of the two most dangerous teams in the group (the other being former European Champions Greece).

Israel at home is a tough opponent to break down. In 30 home games since 2000 Israel won 15 times, drew 12 times and only lost three games (the last one, to Croatia, was 2 years ago!). Notable scalps include Romania and Russia although it must be said that the most recent game, a friendly against Finland (lost 2-0) showed the weaknesses of Dror Kashtan’s men.

Most of Israel’s players are home-raised, yet the most dangerous ones are familiar faces in European football: Youssi Benayoun (Liverpool), Dudu Aouate (Deportivo la Coruna) and Omer Golan (Lokeren).

Switzerland and Israel have played against each other 7 times with Israel winning once, Switzerland winning three times and the other three ended in draws. Switzerland fans will certainly recall the terrible draw in 2004 when Omri Afek crushed Tranquillo Barnetta’s knee condemning the Swiss player to a 6-month stop and with Benayoun scoring his side’s two goals.

The big issues around Switzerland’s lineup concern the central defence – with Muller and Senderos unavailable, Hitzfeld might make use of Djourou and Grichting – a possibility that doesn’t seem encouraging since the players lack the charisma of the other two absentees and have never played together.
Furthermore, a late injury befell Derdiyok and Hitzfeld has decided to call Lustrinelli as an alternative to N’Kufo. Frei is slowly recovering from his Euro 2008 injury and has been playing games with Dortmund’s reserve game. Hitzfeld probably can’t count on him for a full game. Bellinzona’s Lustrinelli had not played since 2006 and will certainly want to prove that he can do as well for Switzerland as he does for Bellinzona (three goals this season).
On the other hand, Barnetta and Stocker’s formidable state will give Hitzfeld a real quality choice on the left wing.

During the interview the national coach has put the pressure on Israel saying they are favourites for this game: “Israel is a very strong team, solid, especially at home. With the encouragement of its own crowd, our opponents are capable of obtaining great results. It’s a team that defeated Russia and drew to England during the Euro 2008 qualifiers.”

Let’s hope luck will be on our side and keep in mind that every time Switzerland has won its opening game they have qualified – every time they have lost they have failed to do so.

On a final note, Ludovic Magnin will be captain for this evening’s game.

Below you will find Switzerland’s 21 players for tonight’s game:
Goalkeepers: BENAGLIO/Wolfsburg COLTORTI/Santander JAKUPOVIC/Grasshopper
Defence: DJOUROU/Arsenal GRICHTING/ Auxerre LICHTSTEINER/Lazio MAGNIN/ Stuttgart NEF/Udinese SPYCHER/Frankfurt VON BERGEN/Hertha Berlin
Midfield and Attack: ABDI/Zurich BARNETTA /Leverkusen BEHRAMI/West Ham Gelson/ Man.City FREI/Dortmund HUGGEL/Basel INLER/Udinese NKUFO/Twente STOCKER/Basel VONLANTHEN/Salzbourg YAKIN/Al Gharafa

Essential LiveBlog:

Lineups
Israel: Aouate – Strool, Kozokin, Ben-Haim – Toema, Kayal, Cohen, Benayoun – Ziv, Golan, Colautti.
Switzerland: Benaglio – Djorou, Grichting, Lichtsteiner, Magnin – Barnetta, Behrami, Huggel, Inler, Yakin – N’Kufo.
16th: Yellow Card for Golan (Isr)
25th: Yellow Card for Huggel (Swi)
45th: GOAL for Switzerland! Hakan Yakin on a freekick!
57th: GOAL for Switzerland! N’Kufo! Great pass by Yakin!
60th: Barda comes on for Golan.
60th: Ohayon on for Kayal.
71st: Vonlanthen on for Barnetta.
73rd: GOAL for Israel! Benayoun!
75th: Abdi on for Hakan Yakin.
88th: Spycher on for Behrami.
92nd: Bad news. GOAL for Israel. Ben Sahar.

The game is over. What a shame. It could have been a win. Report tomorrow.