EURO 2012 Qualification: Match Preview - Switzerland vs. England
England are scheduled to take on Switzerland at the Saint Jakob Park in Basel, Switzerland in what is expected to be a tough encounter for the three lions. The English won their first qualification match against Bulgaria at Wembley Stadium in London by four goals to nil. In what can be termed as an impressive performance from Fabio Capello’s men, England totally dominated from start to finish but things have turned out to be much darker in the English camp since then.
It was revealed in the Sunday Mirror that England’s star striker was involved with a vice-girl during his wife’s pregnancy. Amidst such news, a lot of speculation surfaced around Rooney’s probable role in Tuesday’s qualification match for England. However, Fabio Capello has come out into the open off late and confirmed that this Manchester United striker will be starting for England as he is in good mental as well as physical health.
England are currently on their road to recovery after a humiliating FIFA 2010 World Cup campaign during which the English national team only managed to score two goals and only made it to the Round of 16. Capello, the former A.C Milan manager and the current English national team manager, also came under fire from the English press after his teams below par performances in South Africa.
England were grouped with U.S.A, Algeria and Slovenia but it did not turn out to be an easy ride for the three lions as they only managed to win one of their three group stage games while the other two encounters resulted in draws. In the Round of 16, England were up against arch-rivals Germany but failed to live up to expectations as the Germans battered them by four goals to one.
Capello has since then reformed the team and has included new faces such as Theo Walcott, Adam Johnson and Michael Dawson in his plans for the English national team. The match between Switzerland and England is expected to be a tactical challenge for Fabio Capello who has to compete against Switzerland’s coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. Hitzfeld is a reputed strategist himself and will be looking to give his team the edge in a tough qualification group which includes the likes of Wales, Montenegro and Bulgaria along with England.
Switzerland also participated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup but they failed to qualify for the Round of 16 despite being the only team in the tournament to defeat the Spanish national team in the group stages of the competition. Switzerland came to their second qualification match of EURO 2012 after going through a patchy run of form. Out of their last five matches, the Swiss have won two, drawn two and only lost one.
England on the other hand have won three of their last five matches. Out of the remaining two, one has resulted in a defeat while the other one has resulted in a draw. England are facing some injury troubles at the centre back position as John Terry was not included in the English national team squad due to an ankle injury. His replacement in the squad Michael Dawson suffered a knee injury in England’s match against Bulgaria. The Tottenham defender is expected to be out of action for around two months.
Therefore, Mathew Upson is the favourite to start the match along with Jagielka. Switzerland will have to look out for Wayne Rooney. Despite his off-the-field troubles, Rooney is a renowned goal scorer and after getting four assists in England’s qualification opener against Bulgaria, he will be hungry for a goal to silence his critics.
For Switzerland, their record scorer Alexander Frei will be the bearer of the entire burden against England. He will be expected to get on the score sheet for the Swiss, who definitely won’t be neutral in this encounter. England’s strength is well known at the qualification level but Swiss have enough quality to scrape a draw against Capello’s men.
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