World Cup 2018: A comprehensive look at Group E

#2 Switzerland

After an impressive qualifying run, Switzerland are likely to go through to the next round

The Swiss might have stayed away from the world wars, but have been regulars at the World Cup for sometime now, and this will be their fourth straight appearance at the WC finals.

Switzerland did not have a direct passage to Russia, and had to go through the play-offs before being assured of a place in the final 32. However they were very dominant in qualifying, finishing with the same 27 points out of a possible 30 as leaders Portugal.

Coach: Vladimir Petkovic

After managing a string of Swiss clubs as well as Lazio, Petkovic was handed the job in 2014. Since then, Switzerland have qualified for the Euro 2016 and the 2018 WC, thereby proving their faith in him was not without reason.

This will be his first appearance at the biggest stage of football, and how he goes about his job remains to be seen. Switzerland are expected to go through to the RO16 from this group, and Petkovic has enough quality around him to make things happen.

Switzerland's squad for the World Cup

All of Switzerland's selected keepers play in the Bundesliga, but Monchengladbach's Sommer is expected to get the nod over Dortmund's Buerki. Sommer is a very solid keeper, and isn't prone to much errors like Buerki and Switzerland will be right to stick with him.

Captain Lichtsteiner and Milan's Rodriguez are the full-back pairings in the starting XI, but the CB pairing is still not fully decided. It will be 2 out of Schaer, Akanji, Djourou and Elvedi - with the first two the preferred players, and the other two as their back-ups.

The midfield will see Arsenal's Xhaka as the holding midfielder, along with Atalanta's Freuler as the other DM. Zakaria and Behrami will also be competing to play as the central midfielders, and one of them might get a look in at the expense of Freuler.

Stoke City's Shaqiri is the number 10 in the team, along with Embolo and Gavranovic as the wingers. Shaqiri might even be shifted to the right depending upon how Embolo is fit, and accommodate another number 10 in his place.

Monchengladbach's Drmic is also in the reckoning for a spot, and will fight hard to make it onto the team. Finally, Benfica's Seferovic is the sole striker up-front for the Swiss.

A very hard worker, Seferovic is one of the players who is always making a move into the box, but his finishing lets him down during the crucial moments.

Will we see another one of Shaqiri's belters?

Player to watch out for: Xherdan Shaqiri

Switzerland's midfield is not the most creative in the world, and do not have a lot of goals in them.

You can expect to see a lot of 1-0 or 0-0 scorelines if the Swiss play their natural game, and Shaqiri is the only one capable of changing that.

Shaqiri will feel right at home, as it is basically an extension of his season with Stoke. A sharp playmaker, Shaqiri is capable of making things happen out of nothing, and has a minimum of one banger at every major tournament.