The national team must avoid relegation at all costs, it won’t be easy

In the first edition of the Nations League, Switzerland reached the Final Four tournament as a group winner and finished fourth behind Portugal, the Netherlands and England. Such exploitation should not be expected in the second issue.

Switzerland was dragged into a group of hammers. The opponents are Ukraine, Germany and Spain. For our national team to like to greet from the top of the table and reach the final four again would be a sensation. It is much more about not finishing last and thus avoiding relegation to League B. This is important because you can only compete with the best teams from League A. In League B, teams like Northern Ireland, Scotland or Bulgaria are playing. actually; this would also make Nations League appearances much less appealing to Nati’s fans. Below, we take a closer look at the Swiss national team and their opponents.

In the first edition, the game was played in groups of three, so in the end, a single feat against Belgium was enough for Switzerland to qualify as the group winner for the final tournament in June 2019. There they suffered two defeats in semi-finals against eventual winner Portugal (1: 3) and in the match for third place against England (5: 6 after penalties). For the European Championship, which should actually have taken place this summer, Switzerland qualified as the group winner, despite only scoring one point against Denmark (3: 3, 0: 1). Our national team hasn’t slipped against the “little ones” for a long time, but now there are three tough chunks waiting in the Nations League. The fact that Switzerland has to do without several established players in the first match against Ukraine makes the situation even more complicated than it already is.

Following the elimination of the group at EM 2016, former world-class player Andriy Shevchenko took over as coach. The 2018 World Cup was missed, but in the subsequent qualification for the European Championship, the team convinced across the board and qualified as the group winner before Portugal for the final without losing a single game. In home games, Shevchenko’s men always came off the field as winners. About half of the players have contracts with Shakhtar Donetsk, a semi-finalist in the Europa League. That the Ukrainians take the tournament seriously and have high ambitions is also shown by the fact that the team has been training together since last week. To hijack Ukraine three points, the national team must deliver a superior game.

After the failed World Cup in 2018, the Germans also suffered a bitter defeat in the Nations League. Jogi Löw’s team finished last in the group with France and the Netherlands and relegated from League A. Only thanks to a mode change and associated increase in League A from 12 to 16 teams, Germany can now compete in the first division . That they definitely belong there was also shown in the subsequent qualification for the European Championship, which confidently ended as group winners before Holland. The commotion that started after the 2018 World Cup seems to be slowly but surely paying off.

However, Löw now grants special permits to some regular workers. Champions League champion Bayern Munich is missing Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry, and RB Leipzig semi-finalists are Lukas Klostermann and Marcel Halstenberg. Bayern players Thomas Müller and Jérôme Boateng are no longer part of the DFB team. Löw doesn’t have to do without a Bayern player: Leroy Sané (transferred from ManCity to Munich) and Niklas Süle are there, who have only returned from a torn cruciate ligament in recent weeks.

Löw will not be able to make the most of it, not even in the goalkeeper position. Because Marc-André ter Stegen, who would have been in goal in Neuer’s absence, had an operation on the patellar tendon at the end of the season and is out for a long time. With Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno, Kevin Trapp (Frankfurt) and Oliver Baumann (Hoffenheim) there are three more than solid goalkeepers available. Due to all the absences, one thing is clear: Germany can be defeated, if not now, when?

For the Spanish, it is probably not a disadvantage that the ME has been postponed for a year. Because at the end of last year, Robert Moreno had to give way to his predecessor Luis Enrique after arriving with confidence at the Eurocup, everything caused an earthquake in Spain.

Meanwhile, this gossip is a long way off, so the focus is back on sports. And then the new coach, whose daughter died almost exactly a year ago at just nine years old, surprises with her nomination. There are seven newcomers on the team on their return. “I don’t look at age,” Enrique said, explaining his decision, referring to the 17-year-old talent Ansu Fati: “He has the necessary quality, he has excellent statistics. Only Lionel Messi was even better at Barcelona at that age. “But there are some big names in the line-up, like Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Isco (Real Madrid), Álvaro Morata and Saúl (both Atlético). But it doesn’t work at all. without the “veterans.” The team is led by defense chief Sergio Ramos (34) and Thiago, a 29-year-old triple winner, and Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets (32) is also there.

In 2008 and 2012 Spain won the Eurocup and in 2010 the World Cup. Although the 50-year-old does not want to compare his team to those of the “golden generation”, he has big ideas in mind: “At the European Championship next year, our goal is to win the title!” He wants to lay the first stone on the road to the League of Nations. The games are “very important” because as a national coach you don’t have many appointments to work with the team. “There are games like this, at such a level, a good opportunity for us.”

Due to the incredible density of elite players, Spain must be one of the top favorites in the Nations League, as well as in the EM next year. The only question that arises is whether the break will be possible at the express speed of the train. Switzerland faces Spain on October 10.