Team profile: Switzerland

Bayern Munich left winger Xherdan Shaqiri is one of the most sought-after attacking midfielders in Europe at the tender age of 22 – and heading for his second World Cup. The pace and movement of the Kosovo-born Shaqiri has proven a handful for defenders all over Europe, and it won’t get any easier for his markers in the heat of Brazil. The central midfield orchestrator, the veteran captain Gokan Inler, remains an imperious force to be reckoned with.

Quarter-finalists in 1934 and 1938, Switzerland did not reach the knockout stages again until 2006. But their most memorable recent moment was their polished 1-0 victory over Spain in the group stage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. (Spain went on to win the tournament.)

Switzerland are among the seeded teams, thanks to the math that determines these things, but are more likely to edge out Ecuador and finish second behind France than they are to win the group. They’re a solid unit, not especially flashy, but with enough of a goal threat and strong tactical discipline to make it as far as the Round of 16, although no further.

Brazil is a long way from the Matterhorn – or the Balkans, for that matter – and it’s a lot closer to Ecuador. Always unfancied and underestimated (the Switzerland of Latin America?), the Ecuadorians may just have what it takes to send Switzerland home early.

Switzerland’s electorate is increasingly inhospitable to immigrants, as it demonstrated in a February referendum vote to cap immigration and impose quotas. That followed a 2009 referendum in which voters approved a ban on the construction of minarets. But if immigrants make up one quarter of Switzerland’s population they make up more than half of its national football squad, and at least six of its star players hail from the Muslim communities of the Balkans. Even though soccer is a favorite outlet for European nationalism, the Nati’s reliance on immigrants to compete at the World Cup poses a conundrum for the anti-immgrant right.