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On June 13th, Tuesday, the second round of matches for Group G of the World Cup will begin, where the footballers of France and Switzerland will meet. The favorites in this match are undoubtedly considered to be the French team, but the Swiss should not be underestimated, as this team is capable of practically anything - it is well known how they managed to prevent the Turkish team from qualifying for the World Cup.
Group G
France - Switzerland Location: Gottlieb Daimler Stadium, Stuttgart Time: June 13th, 19:00 Lithuanian time Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)
Kits
France: the team will wear a single-color kit - blue shorts, jerseys, and socks.
Switzerland: the team will also play in a single-color kit, with white shorts, jerseys, and socks.
Qualification for the World Cup
Just like in the World Cup, during the European zone qualifiers, these two teams were in the same group. Both teams had to go a long way to secure the first two places guaranteeing entry into the football fiesta. As expected, the French finished first in the group by two points ahead of the Swiss.
Head-to-Head Matches
The two teams have faced each other 35 times, 4 of those times in the last three years. In overall statistics, the French dominance is clear: 15 wins, 12 losses, and 8 draws.
About the Teams
France
FIFA Ranking: 8th place
This will be the 12th time this team will play in the World Cup. Everyone surely remembers their best performance in 1998 when they won the World Cup trophy at home, beating Brazil 3-0. Unfortunately, four years later, in the next tournament, the reigning champions had to go home after the first round, finishing last in their group behind teams like Denmark, Senegal, and Uruguay.
Preparation for the tournament
In the warm-up matches, the French showed an impressive game, with just one loss to the Slovak national team with a score of 1-2 and three victories: 1-0 against Mexico, 2-0 against Denmark, 3-1 against China.
Switzerland
FIFA Ranking: 35th place
This will be Switzerland's eighth World Cup appearance. Three times - in 1934, 1938, and 1954 - the team managed to reach the quarterfinals, which is their highest achievement. Since then, the team has never won the first group stage matches.
Preparation for the tournament
In their preparations, the Swiss had varying results: they defeated Scotland 3-1 in their first friendly match, then had two draws, 1-1 against Ivory Coast and 1-1 against Italy, but they finished their preparation cycle with an impressive 4-1 victory against China.
Pre-Match Opinions
France
"We have done a lot of useful work and are still improving. Everyone puts in more work during training," said French coach Raymond Domenech.
"We will do everything so that the players are ready to help us move as far as possible."
"My goal is to prepare the players and do everything so that we can perform as a team, not just as individuals."
Switzerland
"When we play against France we can play 10 times and maybe win twice, so we can hope that one of those victories will be on Tuesday," shared coach Köbi Kuhn.
"We have a young and hungry squad that wants to prove something."
"We need to focus and not make mistakes when we are tired against the French."
Predicted Lineups
France: Fabien Barthez; Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram, William Gallas, Eric Abidal; Patrick Vieira, Claude Makelele; Franck Ribery, Zinedine Zidane, Sylvain Wiltord; Thierry Henry.
Switzerland: Pascal Zuberbuehler; Ludovic Magnin, Philippe Senderos, Patrick Müller, Philipp Degen; Raphael Wicky, Johann Vogel, Daniel Gygax, Ricardo Cabanas, Tranquillo Barnetta; Alexander Frei.
