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Switzerland – Northern Ireland (World Cup 2018)

After a very important victory in Belfast on Thursday night, Switzerland now returns to St. Jacob-Park, in Basel, in order to face Northern Ireland for the 2nd leg of the World Cup 2018 play-off. The Swiss won in Belfast on Thursday night by the minimum advantage of 1-0, thanks to a penalty, and wrecked Northern Ireland’s confidence, who came here with unmotivated after losing thanks to a penalty that should not have been awarded.

Switzerland come here confident after a victory in Northern Ireland in the first leg of this play-off, and even though they have won thanks to a penalty that should have not been awarded, the truth is that they were the strongest team on the field during the 90 minutes. Switzerland enjoyed a very positive performance during the World Cup qualifiers, and did not qualify thanks to a goal difference with Portugal, but that didn’t brought this national team’s confidence down, managing to re-impose all their quality once again on the pitch.

Switzerland have very good talented players, like the keepers Sommer and Burki, defenders like Lichtsteiner, Elvedi and Ricardo Rodríguez, midfielders like Granit Xhaka, Behrami and Shaqiri, and strikers like Seferovic and the youngster Embolo, and all this quality was reflected once again on the pitch, although it is now predictable that their opponent enters in this match in a much more offensive posture. In addition, it is important to mention that Switzerland won 10 of their 11 World Cup qualifier games.

In their last 5 official matches, Switzerland has a record of 4 victories and 1 defeat. This sequence of results started with a 3-0 win over Andorra. This result was followed by a 0-3 win against Latvia, a 5-2 victory over Hungary, a 2-0 defeat against Portugal, and in their last match, a 0-1 victory over Northern Ireland.

Probable Lineup: Sommer – Lichtsteiner, Akanji, Schar and Rodríguez – Zakaria and Xhaka – Shaqiri, Dzemalli and Zuber – Seferovic.

Northern Ireland, on their turn, arrives here with low confidence after having been dominated in their own territory, and moreover for having been defeated thanks to a penalty that should have not existed, although the defeat was a fair one since they were the inferior team during the 90 minutes. The fact that they failed to make home advantage count will have been a real blow to Michael O’Neill, who must now inspire a far greater attacking performance from his players to have any chance of reaching the World Cup.

In their last 5 official matches, Northern Ireland has a record of 2 victories and 2 defeats. This sequence of results began with a 0-3 win over San Marino. This result was followed by a 2-0 win against Czech Republic, a 1-3 defeat against Germany, a 1-0 defeat against Norway, and in their last match, a 0-1 defeat against Switzerland.

Probable Lineup: McGroven – McLaughlin, McAuley, Evans and Brunt – Davis, Norwood and Saville – Magennis, Washington and Ward.

Each team has won 2 of the only 5 direct clashes, with the other one ending tied.