Ottmar Hitzfeld, the Switzerland coach, will be hoping to get the Schweizer Nati to the Euro 2012 tournament for the third tournament in a row after successfully reaching the finals in Portugal and getting a free ride with home field advantage in the 2008 Austria/Switzerland finals. Switzerland open their account in Basle against Group G leaders England and have only played Australia since their unsuccessful World Cup tournament in South Africa, despite beating the soon to be World Champions Spain in their opening World Cup match, one-nil.
The Swiss are a well organised side and the experienced Swiss coach Hitzfeld has his team physically ready and a hard unit to breakdown, as Australia found in their recent nil-nil draw. Hitzfeld’s team is predominantly made of Swiss based players with almost half of them playing for the nation’s two top clubs, Basel and Young Boys, with the rest in neighboring Italy, German and France. Switzerland will be looking to be at least on the cusp of the automatic qualification spot in the group by October 8th 2011, if not in the play-off berth.
England will be in confident mood after a fine performance in their one sided victory over Bulgaria at Wembley Stadium in London. Hat trick hero Jermain Defoe will be confident of scoring more against the Swiss. However, for Capello there is the un-needed distraction of tabloid revelations into Wayne Rooney’s private life with allegations that Rooney slept with a call girl whilst his wife was pregnant. He has been fully involved in training sessions with the rest of the England Squad though. An F.A. spokesperson maintained it was "business as usual" after suggestions that the 24-year-old, Rooney might be released from the squad.
Michael Dawson, who seriously injured his knee against Bulgaria, will be the only absentee from the squad and Capello has chosen not to call up a replacement for the Spurs player. Matthew Upson of West Ham could come into the starting line up in Dawson’s absence. But it is thought that Gary Cahill will partner Phil Jagielka as he did successfully against Bulgaria after coming on as a second half substitute for Dawson last Friday.
Capello will be instilling in his team the need to remain focused on the job at hand and to be wary of loosing concentration against the Swiss who were the only team to beat Spain (the current World and European Champions) in the past two years. The Italian will be well aware of the old German war horse Hitzfeld and his ability to get his unfashionable sides to go the extra yard, as he did to get Borussia Dortmund to win the Champions League Final in 1996/7.
It will be a big day for Swiss defender Scott Sutter, of Young Boys. The young player could easily have chosen to represent England, as his mother is English and his father is Swiss. He was raised in Potter’s Bar, London but chose to start is footballing career at the famous Swiss club Grasshoppers of Zurich, because of family ties to the city.
Switzerland Squad
Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg), Marco Wölfli (Young Boys), Germano Vailati (St. Gallen).
Defenders: Stephan Lichtsteiner (Lazio), Stéphane Grichting (Auxerre), Reto Ziegler (Sampdoria), François Affolter (Young Boys), Steve von Bergen (Cesena), Scott Sutter (Young Boys).
Midfielders: Gökhan Inler (Udinese), Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Gelson Fernandes (Cheivo Verona), Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Xherdan Shaqiri (Basel), Valentin Stocker (Basel), Moreno Costanzo (Young Boys), David Degen (Young Boys), Xavier Margairaz (Zurich), Marco Padalino (Sampdoria).
Forwards: Albert Bunjaku (Nürnberg), Eren Derdiyok (Bayer Leverkusen), Marco Streller (Basel), Alexander Frei (Basel).
England Squad
Goalkeepers: Scott Carson (West Brom), Ben Foster (Birmingham), Joe Hart (Manchester City).
Defenders: Gary Cahill (Bolton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Michael Dawson (Tottenham), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), Matthew Upson (West Ham)
Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), James Milner (Manchester City), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Forwards: Darren Bent (Sunderland), Carlton Cole (West Ham), Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).
