World Cup 2018 qualifier: Switzerland – Portugal 06 September 2016 20:45

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World Cup 2018 qualifier: Switzerland – Portugal



The opening round of the World Cup 2018 qualifying stage will be wrapped up with nine matches scheduled for Tuesday. Among them, the one between strong Switzerland and the reigning European champions Portugal promises to be the most interesting and tightly-contested fixture. These two sides did not meet at the EURO 2016 and it has actually been more than eight years since they crossed their swords the last time. Kicking off at 8:45 PM (CET), the Group B qualifier Switzerland versus Portugal will take place at the St. Jakob Park Stadium in Basel, Switzerland.



Switzerland



The Swiss currently have what is widely considered one of their best national teams ever but they failed to prove their worth at the European Championship hosted by France. In fact, the only team Switzerland managed to beat was one of the biggest outsiders Albania. In their other group matches, they drew with Romania (1:1) and France (0:0) while losing to Poland in the round of 16. On the other hand, the current Switzerland´s national team is still quite young and some of its key players such as Shaqiri, Shaka or Embolo still have their best years ahead of them, which suggests the team´s performance might considerably improve in the future. Switzerland will start their World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign with a prestigious clash against Portugal. Historically, their head-to-head statistics is equal but Portugal now have better quality in their squad and they are expected to dominate the pitch. The Swiss, however, will have the home advantage in the game so it is hard to determine the favourite.



Portugal



Two months ago, Portugal won the EURO 2016, claiming their first-ever European title. While this achievement looks very impressive, the actual campaign of the Portugal´s national team was less stunning. It was marked by several unconvincing performances and an unusually high number of draws. In fact, the Portuguese drew in all of their first five matches at the tournament and it was not until their semi final clash against Wales when they finally claimed their first “regular” win after they beat Bale´s squad 2:0. Portugal might have not impressed with their game at the tournament but there are no doubts their current team is the strongest one in years and they will surely try to make the most of it at the upcoming World Cup. Nevertheless, to secure their spot at the championship, they need to progress from the qualifying group. Santos´ men hammered Gibraltar 5:0 in a friendly match just a few days ago and they are determined to win the Tuesday qualifier against Switzerland too.



Summary



The newly-crowned European champions, Portugal will kick off their World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign with an attractive match against Switzerland. These two sides are the biggest favourites of their qualifying group, which is why the outcome of their upcoming head-to-head encounter might have a huge bearing on the destiny of the group. In terms of individual quality, Portugal should have the upper hand but they will probably be without their iconic striker Ronaldo who is yet to fully recover from the knee injury he picked up at the EURO 2016. Which of these two great teams will be more satisfied with the result of the game? We will know by Tuesday night.