Switzerland winger Christian Fassnacht is looking forward to facing his old national team boss Vladimir Petkovic in the World Cup quarter-finals tomorrow.
Petkovic is now the coach of Algeria – and it was he who gave Fassnacht his first taste of a major championship when he took him into the Swiss’ penalty shootout win over France in the last eight of Euro 2020.
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Now they meet again in Vancouver, and both teams are fighting for a place in the last eight against either Colombia or Ghana.
“It will be nice to see him again. This will definitely be a special match. Somehow a circle ends,” Fassnacht says to Blick. “He was a special coach for me in my career. It was from him that I got my first call-up to the national team.
Although Fassnacht owes a lot to Petkovic, he believes that Switzerland’s style of play has evolved under current boss Murat Yakin.
“Vlado had a simpler and more direct style of football,” he adds. “Muri, on the other hand, is more of a tactical fox, which is a little more detail-oriented.
Switzerland won Group B, which also featured hosts Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Qatar, while Algeria was one of the top three teams with four points from games against Argentina, Austria and Jordan.
After describing Algeria as a team full of “street footballers”, Fassnacht says:
“They are willing to take risks and everyone is very good technically with the ball. But maybe we have the advantage of them neglecting the defensive part a bit.
Lineups and injuries
Switzerland: Silvan Widmer is uncertain for the game, and Luca Jaquez is ready to fill in at right-back.
Algeria: Could be without striker Mohamed El Amine Amoura.
Switzerland’s probable line-up: Kobel – Jaquez, Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez – Freuler, Xhaka – Sow, Manzambi, Vargas – Embolo
Algeria probable line-up: Zidane – Belghali, Mandi, Bensebaini, Ait-Nouri – Boudaoui, Bentaleb – Mahrez, Maza, Chaibi – Gouiri
Key figures
Switzerland:
- Qualified from the group stage for the fourth World Cup in a row, but won their group for only the second time – the first time was in 2006
- Johan Manzambi and Ruben Vargas are the first Swiss teammates to both score in two consecutive World Cup matches since 1954, when Robert Ballamann and Josef Hugi did it against Italy and Austria
- Before the games on Wednesday, only Norway (0.19), Argentina (0.17) and Brazil (0.16) had a higher expected goal average per finish than Switzerland (0.14)
- Only Argentina have received more than one penalty in this World Cup – otherwise Switzerland is the only team with two penalties
- Senegal (4) are the only team to have scored more goals via substitutes than Switzerland (3, shared with Germany and Canada)
Algeria:
- Advancing to the World Cup playoffs for the second time – most recently in 2014 with four points
- Became the ninth African team out of ten participants from the continent to advance to the playoffs of this World Cup – an incredible 90% share
- Before 2026, never had more than half of Africa’s teams in a World Cup progressed from the group stage
- Rafik Belghali (24 years and 20 days) became the youngest goalscorer for Algeria in the World Cup since 1982, when Rabah Madjer and Lakdhar Belloumi scored against West Germany
- Riyad Mahrez scored his first two World Cup goals as a 35-year-old against Austria – the first Algerian player to score in the World Cup finals at the age of over 31
Our Prediction
Switzerland are yet to find their top form, but we think the experience in the squad will come through in this match.
Divination: Switzerland 2–1 Algeria
