Switzerland are a European nation who have rarely troubled the latter stages of the World Cup or European Championships in recent years yet have made the Round of 16. The Swiss accomplished this in three of their last four World Cup appearances, the last of which came four years ago in Brazil.
The Nati also reached the Round of 16 at the 2016 European Championships but have failed to get beyond that stage at the World Cup since 1954, when they hosted the event.
Qualifying automatically for the 2018 World Cup was always going to be problematic for the Swiss with European champions Portugal in their group. Hungary, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Andorra were never going to be a problem, leaving the Portuguese as the team to beat.
Switzerland did just that at home in their first match of the group, scoring two goals in the first half to take maximum points. The Swiss remained top of the group through to the final game, which was Portugal away. Switzerland lost that match 2-0 and dropped to second place behind Portugal and into the playoffs.
The Swiss could not have asked for a better draw than Northern Ireland considering the other potential candidates. However, in two tough games, Switzerland could be considered fortunate to go through, winning 1-0 via a controversial penalty.
Switzerland’s defence performed well for the most part in qualifying but could not prevent Portugal from scoring two goals in the crucial final match of the group. Considering the poor standard of the opposition in the group, the Swiss did not excel in any department and other than three matches towards the end of the campaign, did not put away the lower ranked opposition convincingly.
Their top goal scorer in qualifying was Haris Seferovic of Benfica. However, the striker only found the back of the net on four occasions and the goals were shared across the team. In many ways, this is a good sign, as it shows Switzerland are capable of scoring goals throughout the squad. On the other hand, they do not have one man who would considered reliable enough to get them a goal in tight games.
Xherdan Shaqiri is their most talented player and he will be expected to pull the strings for Switzerland from midfield. Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka will also play in midfield and while Switzerland have some good players in that department, they are lacking in attack. Seferovic has just 11 goals in 50 appearances and has struggled at Benfica.
Switzerland have been drawn in a group with Brazil, Costa Rica and Serbia. With Brazil expected to top the group, it will be between the other three teams for second place and it will be close. There is not a great deal to separate the teams and it will come down to the head-to-head matches between them as to who comes second.
With Germany the likely opponents in the Round of 16, if Switzerland do qualify from the group, they are likely to keep recent tradition and bow out at that stage of the tournament.