With the 2022 FIFA World Cup kicking off in six days, it’s time to explore one of Group G’s peak challengers – Switzerland’s A-Team.
Every day until November 20th, we’ll explore a different team represented in this year’s tournament, from Group A to Group H, including predictions about where they’ll end up.
Earlier today, we looked at our pick for Group G runner-up, Serbia. Now we’ll explore one of the group’s other challengers for second place – Granit Xhaka’s Switzerland.
Switzerland
Group G
Nickname: A-Team, National Team, The Red Crosses
Colors: Red, white
Location:
Coach: Murat Yakin (Switzerland)
Top Players:
Yann Sommer of Gladbach is a Swiss legend in goal, more ferocious than an alpine yeti. Torino’s Ricardo Rodriguez and Newcastle’s Fabian Schär help on defense, backing up a stout midfield starring Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka, the former formerly of Liverpool and the latter of Arsenal. Up top, they’ve got Breel Embolo from Monaco and youngster Noah Okafor from RB Salzburg.
Team History:
Qatar will be the 12th World Cup appearance for Switzerland, whose best results were the quarterfinals in 1934, 1938, and 1954. The A-Team reached the round of 16 in 2018, only to be knocked out by Sweden, a country many Americans regularly confuse with Switzerland.
Switzerland is 3-1-4 in 2022, with tough losses and wins against quality opponents like Portugal and Spain. The Red Cross also lost a friendly to England in March.
Tournament Prediction: Group stage exit.
Switzerland opens up against Cameroon on November 24th, a game the A-Team should win or tie. Brazil will almost certainly be a loss, and we think Group G rival Serbia has the edge on Switzerland in their final group stage game. The Swiss will likely exit the group stages with 3-4 points, too few to advance to the knockout rounds.
Featured Image: Generated Image: DALL-E 2/DM