Switzerland

Portugal and Switzerland will both endeavour to claim their first wins of the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League at the second attempt during Sunday's League A Group 2 clash at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon.

Fernando Santos's side left it late to rescue a 1-1 draw against Spain on matchday one, while the visitors fell to a 2-1 defeat to the Czech Republic.

Switzerland have boosted their Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament hopes with an emphatic away win over Lithuania in Group C of the European qualifiers.

Switzerland began the latest set of qualifiers in the group with a six-point deficit to leaders Italy but they have been able to close the gap following wins over the Northern Ireland and Lithuania. The Swiss team took complete of the Italians not in action to take a big step towards automatic qualification in the group.

It is important to point out that only the group winners will advance to Qatar 2022 automatically, while the teams in second place will have their own opportunity to qualify for the tournament via the playoffs.

While the senior national teams are busy battling it out at the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers games looking to secure their spots at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the younger players are handling their own business at the European Under-21 Championship. The tournament is full of surprises already judging by the results of the games that were played on Saturday. While Denmark, Russia, Switzerland, and Portugal have started their businesses on the right foot, teams like France and England still need some improvements to do.

Former Premier League star Paul Mariner suggests Granit Xhaka needs more coaching at Arsenal to suit the defensive midfield role. The Switzerland international has been with the Gunners for the past two-and-a-half seasons where he has produced a mixed bag in terms of the performances for the club.

Speaking to ESPN FC, Mariner suggested that the midfielder is more suited to the holding role rather than playing in an advanced position. He added that the north London giants need to offer the midfielder with more coaching in the number six position, if he is to have a long-term future at the club, he said: “I like him in the 6 role. I don’t like him when he plays a little bit further forward or when he plays the 8 role. I don’t like him. What they should do with now is they should coach him a little bit more, so they are going to keep him.”

As the 2017-18 Premier League campaign gets underway, we look at the five Swiss players in the division and predict how they will fare this season.

Valon Behrami (Watford)
Valon Behrami has been at Watford since 2015, but the 32-year-old Switzerland international midfielder has yet to show the kind of form he exhibited when he was at Italian club Napoli.

Switzerland's European neighbours are already starting to back themselves for the World Cup next year. With the Swiss still a long way from qualifying, both France and Poland have claimed their in with a shout.

Former Arsenal and France striker Thierry Henry believes that the French national team will be ready for the next world cup in Russia. He said that this is a strong squad and that they just need time to play together.

Former Switzerland player KubilayTurkyilmaz has told Arsenal and Switzerland international Granit Xhaka that he needs to calm down.

Switzerland has maintained their 100% win record when they beat Faroe Islands 2-0 in their World Cup qualifying match.

Portugal came off with a win in their World Cup qualifiers game against Latvia last Sunday.

During the 2016 edition of the UEFA Euro’s, Portugal made history as they won their first major international competition after claiming victories over: Croatia, Poland, Wales and France just to name a few of the national sides that Portugal had to overcome in order to be crowned as the champions of the tournament.