Switzerland

In host country Switzerland, the popularity of other sports like hockey and skiing has seen the football team itself wallowing in mediocrity. Their best performance was in the 1994 World Cup in the United States where they pulled off few surprises. But such performances have been few and far between. Switzerland has quite a few famous clubs like Grasshoppers, FC Zurich and Berne's Young Boys. But the sad part is that most of its talented players migrate to bigger clubs elsewhere. An early exit from the championship will not come as a surprise.

The Swiz are known defenders. Their 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign will be remembered for the failure to score in the penalty shoot-out against Ukraine that resulted in Round of 16 exit, but they had reason to be proud of their defence.

Switzerland focused so much on the defence of their goal that they bowed out having not conceded a goal from open play in four games, a statistic which says much about the co-hosts attitude to football. Swiss players, from their early playing days are drilled in zonal defending, team-orientated positioning and tackling. They pride themselves on being a hard team to beat, but that naturally leaves a corresponding problem in scoring goals.

At the back, veteran goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler will have to compete with Fabio Coltorti and Diego Benaglio for the No1 shirt despite excelling at the 2006 World Cup. Ludovic Magnin and Philipp Degen look safe at left and right-back, but the centre of defence has been in flux since the experienced Patrick Müller was ruled out with a cruciate injury. Philippe Senderos will fill one of the central defensive berths while the recalled Johan Djourou will compete for a place with the experienced Mario Eggimann.

Their low-scoring reputation has not been helped by the long-term absence during qualifying of captain Alexander Frei because of a knee injury. With a 4-2-3-1 formation Switzerland's preferred option, the task handed to Marco Streller and Blaise N'kufo in Frei's absence has often been a fruitless one. Xavier Margairaz or Hakan Yakin are the two options for the attacking midfield role. With former captain Johann Vogel having been dropped, Gökhan Inler, Gelson Fernandes, Ricardo Cabanas and Benjamin Huggel are all in the running for a central midfield place, with Tranquillo Barnetta and Johan Vonlanthen on the left and right.

Switzerland Euro Squad