By taking out the French world champions in the round of 16 in 2021, Switzerland had achieved the greatest performance in a European Championship in its history. This year, here she is in the Germany group, which plays at home. The fight for second place with Scotland and Hungary promises to be exciting, before, why not, doing it again in eighth. But the recent form of the Helvetii does not encourage optimism.
The anecdote
In 2008, Switzerland hosted the Euro for the first time in its history. In front of their home crowd, the Helvetii finished last in their group, still securing their first victory in the competition against Portugal. Austria, co-organizer of the Euro, was also eliminated in the first round.
The last six Euros
Team form
If Switzerland was able to get out of its group during the last World Cup, as it has been accustomed to doing since 2014, it was corrected (6-1) by Portugal in the round of 16. During qualifying for the Euro, they only lost one match, the last, but conceded five draws in ten matches, conceding numerous goals at the very end of the match. Second in its qualifying group behind Romania, it beat Ireland in a friendly at the end of March after five games without a victory. More recently, she reassured herself by knocking out Estonia (4-0).
The match schedule
Consult the profiles of all the teams on the Euro guide. And those in Group A in particular, namely Germany, Scotland and Hungary.
The list of selected players
By selecting 38 players, Murat Yakin will have to leave twelve of his men behind. Among the absentees, Nantes’ Eray Cömert will not go to Germany, just like Haris Seferovic, who has only played half an hour with his national team since the World Cup in Qatar. Still in attack, Breel Embolo is back after his long injury which sidelined him with Monaco until April.
Goalkeepers: Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund), Yvon Mvogo (Lorient), Yann Sommer (Inter Milan). Zeki Amdouni (Burnley), Kwadwo Duah (Ludogorets Razgrad, BUL), Ardon Jashari (Lucerne), Fabian Schär (Newcastle United, ANG), Fabian Widmer (Mayence). Vincent Sierro (Toulouse), Ruben Vargas (Augsburg), Denis Zakaria (Monaco), Michel Aebischer (Bologna), Remo Freuler (Bologna), Xherdan Shaqiri (Chicago Fire, USA), Renato Steffen (Lugano), Granit Xhaka ( Leverkusen Strikers: Dan Ndoye (Bologna), Noah Okafor (AC Milan), Breel Embolo (Monaco), Andi Zeqiri (Genk), Steven Zuber (AEK Athens)
The probable composition
Over Switzerland’s last ten matches, Yakin has used five different playing patterns, still favoring systems with three defenders. Proof that the Swiss technician has difficulty finding his typical team, even if some remain unbreakable like Sommer in the cages, Akanji in defense or Granit Xhaka in the middle, who is coming off a fantastic season with Leverkusen . The roles of the pistons, including that of Widmer, will be important.
The player to watch: Breel Embolo
The returning Embolo (he was injured for a very long time this season), here during the last World Cup, will lead the Nati attack. Abaca/Icon Sport
It is with a vengeful spirit that the AS Monaco striker goes to Germany. At 27, he is already playing his third Euro, having also played in two World Cups. Injured all season due to a ruptured cruciate ligament, he is part of Yakin’s list, which is counting on the Monegasque returning to his best level for European competition. The one who scored twelve goals during the 2022-2023 season could do good to an attack which had only scored three goals in its last four games before Estonia.
