Switzerland will look to make another deep run at the Euros after upsetting France and getting to the quarterfinals in 2021.
Murat Yakin has been in charge since after the Euros in 2021 and has done a masterful job with the Swiss National Team. They did finish second in their qualifying group to Romania, but they had some of the best underlying numbers of anyone in Europe.
Switzerland have an incredibly experienced squad with a core that has been playing together for a really long time, which is always valuable at international tournaments and makes them one of the more underrated teams at the Euros.
Tactical Analysis
It may not look like the most talented attack on paper, but Switzerland have a really good build up system in place and are a deadly counterattacking team. Murat Yakin has been in charge since after Euro 2021 and his system is largely based on finding passing triangles in the half spaces to play through their opponent to create a chance.
They faced a ton of passive defensive teams throughout qualifying and are going to face two more in the group stage, so being as effective as they were at manipulating and finding space against compact defensive structures is really impressive.
Granit Xhaka is their most important player without a doubt. He’s coming off the best season of his career winning the domestic double with Leverkusen and is the conductor of the Swiss attack. Oftentimes it will be a 3-2 build up structure, but once they enter the final third, Remo Fruler will push up further with Xhaka being the cover against counterattacks.
A lot of the chances they create also are runs from the half space to create a cut back shot. Because they tend to have a lot of bodies in the middle of the pitch, Xhaka or Freuler making those runs to create those shots are crucial.
Switzerland are a really good team out of possession because of their adaptability to both press teams high and cause problems or to sit in a solid defensive structure.
They played a lot of teams that wouldn’t build out of the back or if they did they Swiss would force them into a long ball up the pitch. You probably will see them play more passively than they did during qualifying and it will be out of a 5-3-2 formation.
The one weakness that Switzerland have without a doubt is defending crosses, especially ones to the back post. Romania got them twice with simple crosses to the back post with nobody marking the free runner and of the goals they conceded, most of them were via crosses.
data via WyScout
Pick
Switzerland were perhaps the most impressive offensive team during qualifying. They finished the group stage averaging 2.55 xG per 90 minutes and created over two expected goals in all but one of their matches.
They have really good center back options in Manuel Akanji, Fabian Schär and Nico Elvedi, who have all played with the national team for a long time and are playing at top level clubs. Whether they decide to go with Yann Sommer or Gregor Kobel, the Swiss will have one of the best goalkeepers in this tournament as well. Their defense conceded 11 goals during qualifying, but that was off of only 5.5 expected goals because their opponents simply finished at a high rate against them.
Germany are the favorite to win Group A and should easily go through to the round of 16, but Switzerland are a clear step better than both Hungary and Scotland and are favored over both of them in their first two matches. I also think there is a chance they could upset Germany in the final match, so I like the value on the Group Dual Forecast of Germany & Switzerland at +125.
