World Cup 2014 Preview – Switzerland

The current eighth ranked team in the world according to FIFA, Switzerland was able to breeze through qualifying to make it to the World Cup group stage, where they'll face off with France, Ecuador, and Honduras.

Switzerland have never had much luck in World Cup Finals, but this squad is different than their past teams. Head coach Ottmar Hitzfeld is a futbol legend in his home country of Germany, accumulating 18 titles as a player and coach. He'll obviously bring along goalkeeper extraordinaire, VfL Wolfsburg's own Diego Benaglio. In front of Benaglio is a sound and stingy defensive unit, which includes the likes of Valencia defender Philippe Senderos and  FC Basel fullback Fabian Schär.

In the midfield, they sport a nice mixture of experience and young talent, and there isn't really any weaknesses anywhere in the middle of the pitch. Xherdan Shaqiri is one of those young guns who will make a name for himself after this summer. Shaqiri is lightning fast and has the advantage of being left-footed, so defenders must respect his ability to make a strong run down the left side to cross the ball into the middle, or switch to the right and find shots by cutting back against the grain.

My prediction: Switzerland are a very strong team, and I fully expect them to survive deep into the Knockout Stage. They finish 1st in Group E, and take on the 2nd place team of Group F.