Switzerland go head-to-head with Portugal of their World Cup spherical of 16 tie on Tuesday night.
When Murat Yakin introduced his squad, he was so glad with the wealth of expertise at his disposal that he stated: “We were spoiled for choice.” The 26 which made the lower are actually tasked with turning into the primary Swiss aspect since 1938 to win a knockout match on the males’s World Cup.
Here’s the XI Yakin might choose with historical past on the horizon.
GK: Yann Sommer – Switzerland’s agile primary made a tournament-high 21 saves ultimately yr’s Euros. He’s solely been compelled into 9 to this point in Qatar.
RB: Silvan Widmer – Puts his success down to 2 issues: “I do know what I need, and I do know what I can do.”
CB: Nico Elvedi – The solid, if unspectacular, centre-back is facing a race against time to recover from an illness ahead of the knockout rounds.
CB: Manuel Akanji – One of Akanji’s tattoos reads: “Prove them wrong”. A sentiment he has carried out since recovering from an ACL injury very early in his career.
LB: Ricardo Rodriguez – A veteran of four major tournaments, Rodriguez has missed just 33 minutes of football for Switzerland at the World Cups and Euros since 2014.
CM: Granit Xhaka – When his family returned from the infamous match which saw Xhaka booed by Arsenal’s fans, his career in north London seemingly over, his mum was the first one to speak. “So…” she began, “what do you need to eat?”
CM: Remo Freuler – A late bloomer, Freuler was generally known as “Mini” back in Zurich as he was always the smallest player on each team he lined up for.
AM: Djibril Sow – Coumba Sow, Djibril’s cousin, is an international for the Swiss women’s national team and scored against Portugal when the nations met in last summer’s European Championships.
RW: Xherdan Shaqiri – The only player in World Cup history to have scored a hat-trick comprising entirely of left-footed goals opened his account in Qatar against Serbia – with his left foot naturally.
ST: Breel Embolo – The Cameroon-born striker gave an update on his national leaning last year, admitting that he is “most likely 60 or 70% Swiss now, much more so than I’m African”.
LW: Ruben Vargas – With a former worldwide trampolinist as a mom and a semi-professional baseball participant as a father, Vargas comes from sporting inventory.
Harry Symeou hosts Andy Headspeath, Toby Cudworth & La Liga TV presenter Semra Hunter to look again on the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa – be a part of us!
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