Switzerland’s coah Ottmar Hitzfeld is not even considering elimination in regards to today’s final Group H match against Honduras. The recipient of 19 major club trophies, Hitzfeld compares today’s match against Honduras to a Champions League semi-final and thereby one they are sure to win. If they can pull off a win, Switzerland will go into the knockout round for a second consecutive World Cup.
The Swiss are looking for a victory and some goals in order to advance from the balanced Group H round. A two goal win will guarantee Switzerland advances, but the team has a history of losing their final group matches at the World Cup, and has not scored more than once in any of their last seven matches. The Swiss are unbeaten in their last two meetings with Central American teams at the World Cup. They beat Mexico in 1950 and tied with the USA in 1994.
The Swiss started out on a good foot with their 1-0 upset match against European Champion team Spain. Losing their second match 1-0 to Chile put an end to their World Cup recorded 577 minute shutout streak. Chile’s Mark Gonzalez scored the goal while Switzerland played one man short after midfielder Valon Behrami received a straight red card in the 31st minute. "It was very hard to work with 10 men," defender Steve Von Bergen said. "We're angry at the moment, but we're still in with a great chance, provided we beat Honduras."
This shouldn’t be too hard of a feat considering Honduras has not yet scored in any of their World Cup matches and has slim chances of advancement. They have been scoreless for the last 300 minutes of their World Cup play; their last goal was made b Eduardo Laing in a 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland in 1982. Honduras can grab a three way tie for second place with three points if the team can pull of a win against Switzerland, and if Chile defeats Spain. Of the game Honduras lost against Spain, Coach Reinaldo Rueda said "We lacked conviction," adding that "There's nothing much to explain except that we had a superior team in front of us."
Once again Honduras finds itself in front of a superior team, and the Catrachos have no demonstrated they have what it takes too offensively to pull off such a feat as beating the Swiss. Even though Switzerland is going to play without their strong defender Philippe Senderos, Hitzfeld is not worried and will target the “disorganized” Honduran defense. Senderos was injured during the 2-0 Swiss defeat by Spain, which could have been much worse have keeper Noel Valladares let in his six saves.
Honduras has not seen significant possession time with the ball in either or their matches and has thus had fewer opportunities to score. Midfielder Ramon Nunez is the only player to have shots on goal; out of 16 he has had two on goal. “We need to start scoring goals now, something we failed to do in the past two matches. I'm happy we have a clean bill of health going into this encounter. We wanted to come here and play better. But we haven't done very well so far. But I'm positive we'll turn the corner against Switzerland," Rueda said confidently, who is expected to call up Carlos Pavon, leading scorer, to increase their chances at a first World Cup victory qualifying for the next round.
If booked, Danilo Turcios, Emilio Izaguirre and Wilson Palacios will be suspended from their next match, and the Swiss also face impending suspensions for Tranquillo Barnetta, Hakan Yakin, Gökhan Inler, Stephane Grichting, Blaise Nkufo, Diego Benaglio and Reto Ziegler.
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