Doha, November 06 (QNA) - Swiss teams tended to play defensive football in the World Cup. However, they will be looking to play a different brand of football in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Switzerland is featuring in the world cup for the 12th time overall and fifth consecutively.

Switzerland national football teams coach Murat Yakins mission will be difficult in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. However, his success in forming a new team through counting on young players, qualifying for the World Cup at the expense of Italy, will give him confidence for the challenge ahead.

Many did expect Switzerland to reach the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 after Yakin took over, especially that many key players like Granit Xhaka, Breel Embolo and Haris Seferovic were injured. But Yakins squad regained confidence and reached the World Cup.

Difficult tasks will continue facing Switzerland in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, after it was placed in a strong group G with Brazil, the record World Cup winner, as well as Serbia and Cameroon. Switzerland faced both Brazil and Serbia at the group stage back in 2018 in Russia.

Switzerlands first match at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be against Cameroon on Nov. 24 at Al Janoub Stadium. They will face Brazil in the second round on Nov. 28 at Lusail Stadium. Their final match of the group stage will be against Serbia on Dec. 2 at Stadium 974.

The Swiss national team chose Le Royal Meridien Doha as accommodation premises for the team during the tournament period and shall initiate its trainings at QU Stadium. The Swiss team succeeded in reaching the World cup 2022 finals after leading Group C of the European Qualifiers, which included Italy, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, and Lithuania, and maintained its record of unbeaten games, and remained in the top place with 18 points after winning five matches and three matches ended in a draw.

This will be Switzerlands 12th participation in the World Cup after taking part in 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1994, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018. Their best results were to reach the quarter- finals in three occasions in the years 1934, 1938 and 1954.

Since reaching the quarterfinals in 1954, Switzerland has not been able to replicate this achievement, and instead settled for reaching the last-16 on four occasions. Switzerland played 37 matches in its world cup history, during which it managed to win 12 matches, draw in 8 matches, and lose 17. They scored 50 goals and conceded 64.

At the European level, the Swiss national team doesnt have any notable participations. They reached the quarterfinals of UEFA EURO 2020 and were beaten by Spain on penalties. Switzerland participation in the Euros include 18 matches during its five participations through which it had managed to win 3 matches, draw 8 of its matches, defeated in 7 matches, scored 16 goals and its goalkeeper conceded 24 goals.

One of the best players in Swiss history is Heinz Hermann who played in 118 international matches. Alexander Frei is the all-time leading scorer for the Swiss national football team with 42 goals. The current squad of the national team includes prominent players like Breel Embolo, Xherdan Shaqiri, Haris Seferovic, Steven Zuber, as well as Granit Xhaka and Manuel Akanji. (QNA)