Preview: Switzerland vs. Israel - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, were held 1-1 by Kosovo in their opening game of the campaign in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

Match preview

Having been ranked as top seeds in Euro 2024's qualifying draw, Switzerland will be firmly expected to dominate Group I across the coming months, with none of the other nations alongside them in the group even ranked within the top 50 of FIFA's World Rankings.

The Red Crosses displayed their dominance over Belarus in their opening game, with Renato Steffen firing in a hat-trick before the half-hour mark in Serbia, where Belarus are currently being forced to play due to diplomatic factors.

Midfielders Granit Xhaka and Zeki Amdouni both scored after the break to add gloss to Swiss' victory, with Murat Yakin's side looking extremely well set to qualify for their sixth successive major tournament.

However, Israel will almost certainly provide stiffer opposition at Stade de Geneve on Tuesday, even if Switzerland should have too much individual quality and collective spirit for them in the end.

Israel have only qualified for one major tournament in their entire history, which was when they crashed out at the group stage of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.

The Blues and Whites have had several near misses along the way, most recently missing out on the chance to qualify for Euro 2020 by losing to Scotland on a penalty shootout in the playoffs.

Israel have changed manager since that defeat, with Alon Hazan stepping up from his coaching role with the Under-21s to take on the senior job in May last year. The 55-year-old began in emphatic fashion during his early months, remaining unbeaten in four Nations League matches to guide his side to promotion to the top tier.

As such, it would be easy to make a case that Hazan's side should be finishing second in Group I behind Switzerland, with Romania, Kosovo, Belarus and Andorra all achieving much less in recent years.

Their 1-1 draw against Kosovo with home advantage on their side was clearly a disappointing result, then, although things could have been worse having trailed until Dor Peretz's 56th-minute equaliser. Another point in Geneva on Tuesday would represent a perfectly positive result for them.

Switzerland Euro Champ Qualifying form:

W

Switzerland form (all competitions):

L

W

L

W

L

W

Israel Euro Champ Qualifying form:

D

Israel form (all competitions):

D

W

W

W

L

D

Team News

Having won in such emphatic fashion away to Belarus in their opening game, Yakin is unlikely to make many changes to his starting XI, with Steffen hoping to run riot in a weak-looking Group I.

Xherdan Shaqiri, Breel Embolo, Andi Zeqiri, Jordan Lotomba and Gregor Kobel all withdrew from Yakin's squad prior to their trip to Serbia, meaning Noah Okafor may receive a chance to impress from the start in attack, having laid on an assist after replacing Cedric Itten during the second half against Belarus.

Israel, meanwhile, saw Celtic forward Liel Abada withdraw due to injury themselves, but Fulham winger Manor Solomon will hope to translate his sensational recent goalscoring form at club level to the international sphere.

Despite being held to a draw against Kosovo, Hazan may opt to select the same team once again, especially as a similar result would do his team's aspirations of claiming second spot no harm whatsoever.

Switzerland possible starting lineup:

Sommer; Widmer, Akanji, Elvedi, Rodriguez; Freuler, Zakaria, Xhaka; Steffen, Vargas; Okafor

Israel possible starting lineup:

Glazer; Dasa, Vitor, Shlomo, Leidner; Gloukh, Lavi, Peretz; Haziza, Weissman, Solomon

We say: Switzerland 3-1 Israel

Switzerland certainly will not have things all of their way against Israel in the same manner they did versus Belarus, but we expect Yakin's side to have too much quality for their opponents once again.

The Red Crosses are seasoned veterans on the international stage, and they look set to dominate Group I having been provided with a kind draw.

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