You need that for a top World Cup: strong leaders, a shooting star and smarts

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Switzerland starts the World Cup on Friday (7 a.m.) in Dunedin with the game against the blatant outsider Philippines. Blick shares what it takes for the national team to write a winter fairytale in faraway New Zealand.

Closed at the back

She is the Methuselah in the Swiss goal and the oldest player in the selection of Inka Grings: Gaëlle Thalmann (37). Shortly before the start of the World Cup, the born Freiburger announced that she would end her career after the tournament. On good days she belongs to the extended world class, on bad days – as in the test against Morocco – to the district class. At every last round, Thalmann made a lot of money according to her nickname “Gaga”. This is not like in New Zealand. For a Swiss high flyer, Thalmann must remain flawless.

Strong leaders

Together they have almost 400 caps, they are all over 30 and play for top clubs Arsenal, PSG and Barcelona. Lia Wälti, Ramona Bachmann and Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic have been the faces of Swiss women’s football for years. “Dependence on them is dangerous,” Grings said in the spring. The performance of the Nati depends heavily on them, the three realize that. The conditions for a strong tournament are good: Wälti won the race against the clock two months ago after her injury, Crnogorcevic is coming off a successful season and is physically much stronger than before last year’s European Championship. And Bachmann, who has shed her selfishness over the course of her career and developed into a team player, is over the moon after getting married a few weeks ago.

Exploit from the second row

Eight players from the – or not at all – semi-professional Super League are part of the World Cup squad. Nadine Riesen took unpaid leave, Julia Stierli is completing her training as a physiotherapist after the World Cup, Laura Felber postponed her university exams because of the tournament and Fabienne Humm also has her laptop with her to work in New Zealand. From the eighth finals at the latest, the four countries where professionalization has progressed much further than in Switzerland will meet. To hide the difference, the Super League players have to push themselves.

falling star

As the biggest stage, the World Cup writes its own stories. Who will make the big breakthrough? There are also some candidates in the national team. Alisha Lehmann, who can prove she can’t cause a stir with her social media posts alone. Or Seraina Piubel, the high flyer of last Super League season, who is about to move abroad. Or Amira Arfaoui. The Bern native was on the brink of retirement at the age of 19 and only made it into the squad thanks to Iman Beney’s injury. The Bayer Leverkusen striker would be destined to write a Cinderella story Down Under.

Return of the winning mentality

The balance is miserable. The Nati have won just three of their last 17 games, beating Croatia, Moldova and Wales last fall. Still, there is a good atmosphere. From gossip or resentment within the team? No trace. Explanations for the poor results can almost always be found. Sometimes it’s fatigue, sometimes ultimately a lack of callousness, sometimes individual mistakes, sometimes a lot of sponsorship and media engagement. Now there are no more excuses. From now on only the result counts. The Nati must prove that they have not lost the winning mentality of the 2021 playoff wins against the Czech Republic and 2022 against Wales.

A clear plan, cleverness and a little bit of luck

6 matches, 0 wins, 5 goals: that was the sobering record in Inka Grings’ era as national coach. Sometimes the German acted with a diamond, sometimes with three strikers. The trained central defender Viola Calligaris played on the flank, the record scorer Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic for the first time in her career on the left of midfield. The time of experimentation is now over, the gears must mesh against the Philippines. To stage a coup, you need not only a clear match plan, but also smarts and a little bit of luck. In terms of quality, Switzerland is not as well positioned as the larger countries.

Source : Blick