World Cup: Kobel and Elvedi start Switzerland’s opener against Qatar
| Alex Grimm/Getty Images |
Switzerland kickoff their World Cup campaign in California with a game against the 2022 hosts Qatar. The back-to-back Asian champions lost all group stage games on home soil in their debut appearance four years ago.
On the contrary, Switzerland have reached the Round of 16 in each of the last three competitions. Former Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern defender Murat Yakin has nine Bundesliga-based players in his squad.
Borussia Dortmund’s goalkeeper Gregor Kobel and Gladbach’s center-back Nico Elvedi are in the starting XI, while Silvan Widmer (Mainz), Miro Muheim (HSV), Johan Manzambi (Freiburg), Fabian Rieder (Augsburg), Aurèle Amenda (Eintracht Frankfurt), Luca Jaquez (Stuttgart) and Cedric Itten (Fortuna Düsseldorf) will hope to come off the bench during the game.
Furthermore, eight more players in the squad have previous Bundesliga experience, including the captain Granit Xhaka (Gladbach and Leverkusen), Manuel Akanji (Dortmund), Dennis Zakaria (Gladbach), Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg), Ruben Vargas (Augsburg), and Breel Embolo (Gladbach and Schalke), who are all in the starting lineup.
Homam Ahmed, who has just won a promotion to Segunda División with Cultural Leonesa, is in Qatar’s starting lineup. The 26-year-old fullback is the only one in Julen Lopetegui’s 26-man squad to play for a club outside Qatar.
Confirmed Switzerland vs. Qatar Lineups
Switzerland: Kobel; Elvedi, Akanji, Zakaria; Rodriguez, Freuler, Xhaka ©, Aebischer; Ndoye, Vargas; Embolo
Qatar: Abunada; Al-Oui, Pedro Miguel, Khoukhi ©, Al Amin; Madibo, Laye, Gaber; Edmilson Junior, Abdurisag, Afif
