SWITZERLAND will likely be fighting for second spot with Ecuador behind France in Group E.

 

Outright odds: 100/1

To win group: 5/2

To qualify: 4/6

 

Full squad: Diego Benaglio (VfL Wolfsburg), Yann Sommer (FC Basel), Roman Buerki (Grasshoppers), Johan Djourou (Hamburg SV), Michael Lang (Grasshoppers), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), Ricardo Rodriguez (VfL Wolfsburg), Fabian Schaer (FC Basel), Philippe Senderos (Valencia), Steve von Bergen (Young Boys), Reto Ziegler (Sassuolo), Tranquillo Barnetta (Eintracht Frankfurt), Valon Behrami (Napoli), Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli), Gelson Fernandes (Freiburg), Gokhan Inler (Napoli), Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern Munich), Valentin Stocker (FC Basel), Granit Xhaka (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Josip Drmic (Nuremberg), Mario Gavranovic (FC Zurich), Haris Seferovic (Real Socieded), Admir Mehmedi (Freiburg).

Manager: Ottmar Hitzfeld World Cup record: Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954).

How they qualified (most recent first): Comfortable winners of UEFA's Group E, finishing top by seven points from Iceland after winning seven of their 10 matches, drawing the other three.

v Slovenia (home) 1-0 (HT 0-0) Xhaka 74

v Albania (away) 2-1 (HT 0-0) Shaqiri 47, Lang 77

v Norway (away) 2-0 (HT 1-0) Schaer 12, 51

v Iceland (home) 4-4 (HT 3-1) Lichtsteiner 15,30, Schaer 27, Dzemaili 54p

v Cyprus (home) 1-0 (HT 0-0) Seferovic 90

v Cyprus (away) 0-0 (HT 0-0)

v Iceland (away) 2-0 (HT 0-0) Barnetta 66, Gavranovic 79

v Norway (home) 1-1 (HT 0-0) Gavranovic 79

v Albania (home) 2-0 (HT 1-0) Shaqiri 23, Inler 68p

v Slovenia (away) 2-0 (HT 1-0) Xhaka 20, Inler 51

Goalscorers: Switzerland shared the goals around in qualifying with Fabian Schaer top-scoring with three.

Half-time/full-time: Switzerland were drawing at half-time in seven of their wins, gaining half-time leads for their other three victories.

Clean sheets: Switzerland's defence is a strength as they kept seven clean sheets in 10 qualifiers. They only conceded six goals in qualifying - four of them in one game in the 4-4 draw with Iceland.

Win to nil: Six of their seven wins were 'to nil'.

Other competitive internationals: None in the qualification period or since. Switzerland even failed to qualify for Euro 2012.

Build-up (most recent first): The Swiss led Croatia twice but failed to beat them in March. More recently they struggled to narrow victories over Jamaica and Peru.

v Peru (home) 2-0 (HT 0-0) Lichtsteiner 78, Shaqiri 84

v Jamaica (home) 1-0 (HT 0-0) Drmic 84

v Croatia (home) 2-2 (HT 2-1) Drmic 32, 41

v South Korea (away) 1-2 (HT 1-0) Kasami 7

 

Team verdict: Switzerland will likely be fighting for second spot with Ecuador behind France in Group E.

The positives are thus: their coach, Ottmar Hitzfeld, has huge experience having won the Bundesliga seven times. Stephan Lichtsteiner won another Scudetto with Juventus, whilst Gökhan Inler, Valon Behrami and Blerim Dzemaili won the Coppa Italia for Napoli. Xherdan Shaqiri won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich too. So there are winners in this squad.

The negatives: their strikers are inexperienced and goals could be hard to come by. And when it comes down to it, Ecuador are more adventurous and look better equipped to deal with the Brazilian heat.