This summer, the attention of all Europe will be focused on Germany. The 24 strongest national teams of the continent will compete in the 17th European Championship. There are 38 days left until the start of the competition, which will last from June 14 to July 14.
Idman.biz continues the presentation of the participants of EURO-2024. This week we take a look at the teams in Group A. The host Germany's main rival in this group is Switzerland.
Peace-Lovers’ Love for Peace
Switzerland, which is the embodiment of neutrality, is also peace-loving. The qualifying round of EURO-2024 has also shown this. Playing in the same group as Romania, Israel, Belarus, Kosovo and Andorra, Murat Yakin's team drew 5 out of 10 matches. These points losses resulted in the team taking second place after Romania. The national team that qualified directly for Germany will play in the continental championship for the 3rd time in a row and the 6th time in its history. When talking about the Swiss national team's love for a draw, it also comes to mind that they have often tried their luck in penalty shootouts in recent years.
Development Through Nationalization
For decades, the Swiss national team was not considered a serious competitor. The team that made its way to the finals in the 90s of the last century performed under the leadership of various well-known head coaches. The main successes were achieved after the appointment of Vladimir Petkovic. The specialist from Bosnia and Herzegovina formed a militant collective, demanding the nationalization of legionnaires from Brazil, Albania and Africa. The growth of stars such as Swiss players Jan Sommer, Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka in their circle did not take long. The current leader of the national team is the last one. Xhaka, who holds the record for the number of games in the team, will lead his national team to success in the country he knows well after winning the title of German champion with Bayer.
Trouble and Headaches
The days when Switzerland was easy prey for the world's giants. At the moment, no team can comfortably meet the Europeans. It is true that Portugal was happy with the 6:1 victory at the WC-2022. But such an event is rare. The team's attacks against France and Italy in recent years, which became a headache for everyone, have not yet been forgotten. The French, who participated in EURO-2020 as world champions, got stuck in Switzerland in the 1/8 finals. Italy, on the other hand, fell short of this opponent in the qualifying round of the World Cup 2022, keeping its hope for the play-offs, and the failure there left it out of the biggest competition on the planet for the second time in a row. But all of them have come true with draws. France were later beaten on penalties, finishing second in the group after a draw with Italy. But the "lottery" after the game has become a problem for Switzerland itself. Defeats to Poland in EURO-2016 and Spain in EURO-2020 are examples of this. Switzerland has always lost on penalties when it was eliminated from the group in the continental championship.
The games of the Swiss national team in the group
June 15. Hungary - Switzerland
June 19. Scotland - Switzerland
June 23. Switzerland - Germany
It should be noted that group A meetings will be held in Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart and Frankfurt.
Vugar Kheyrullayev
Idman.biz
