Switzerland vs England: Euro 2012 qualifier

Switzerland have not won at home in over a year. It has been over 1000 minutes since one of their strikers scored an international goal. England have better players than them in every position. Conclusion? England should win this match. But, of course, football is seldom that straight-forward, especially with England, even if they did canter through their last qualifying campaign and swotted Bulgaria aside with ease on Friday.

England could win comfortably here but a case can also be made for the home side scrounging a point or even replicating their shocking World Cup success over Spain. The first factor in Switzerland’s favour is that Ottmar Hitzfeld is likely to put in place a system designed to slow down the visitors’ attacks, compelling them to try penetrating with ingenuity rather than swiftness, and that tends not to be England’s thing, though, encouragingly for them, against Bulgaria Wayne Rooney did not appear to be inhibited by the looming exposure of his private life. That shows a form of mental fortitude from England’s second most creative player but, in general, England are mentally weak and that, of course, is the second factor in Switzerland’s favour. You can never be sure England won’t freeze or become frazzled and uncoordinated when the pressure mounts. The lurking sense of collapse is part of what makes watching them strangely addictive, part of the reason that you are tuning in tonight. You are tuning in, aren’t you?