Switzerland Will Go Home Early From the 2010 World Cup

Switzerland is looking to make a return to the knockout rounds of the World Cup in 2010 but Al expects a much shorter stay in South Africa.

How they got here
Switzerland topped what was probably the weakest of all the qualifying groups in Europe in order to qualify for South Africa. The campaign opened terribly with a draw on the road to Israel being followed up with a disastrous home defeat to Luxembourg.

Rather than fall apart, Switzerland got its act together and recorded five straight wins, including two victories over Greece. A draw at Latvia proved a minor setback as a 3-0 road win at Luxembourg made amends for the earlier upset and left Switzerland needing only a draw from its last game to qualify automatically. A 0-0 draw with Israel followed and Switzerland booked its place in the 2010 World Cup.

Who to watch
Striker Alexander Frei is the most established star of the Swiss team and having suffered through injuries in recent years, the front man was back on form this season. Watch out for rising star Eren Derdiyok of Bayer Leverkusen. The young striker had no trouble finding the net in Germany’s Bundesliga this year but he has yet to break out at international level so there’s no better place to do so than South Africa. Derdiyok is priced at +4000 to be the top scorer from the Bundesliga in South Africa and he certainly merits consideration.

Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos and Auxerre’s Stephane Grichting play crucial roles in defense for Switzerland. Senderos will look to rebuild his career in South Africa. Having failed to impress at Arsenal his loan spells at Milan and Everton did little to inspire confidence. A good performance in South Africa could do wonders for his stock so keep that in mind when making any World Cup betting choices.

How they will perform
Group H is the most lopsided group in the World Cup with favorites Spain holding a clear advantage over the other three teams. Switzerland must face Spain first which is probably the worst time to face them. This makes the second game against Chile of vital importance. Switzerland will need to avoid defeat at all costs but I like Chile to overcome any efforts the Swiss make at all-out defense. That means Switzerland will have to attack in that game and hope to get enough from it and the final group matach against Honduras to progress.

I don’t like Switzerland to progress with the schedule in that order. They lack the star power to pull through and will be up against it from the start.

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