Switzerland preview: All grown up and ready to go
As we move closer and closer to the IPCH European loop Championships 2024, Claus Vestergaard previews each team in order of the World Ranking List. In this edition, he shares his insights on the Swiss team.
Team Switzerland, for years the up-and-comers, are all grown up and have well and truly arrived. Now it’s time to convert all that potential and youthful enthusiasm to results at the pointy end of the PCH hierarchy.
The first signs that the Swiss were going to be trouble came at the 2018 world championships in Lignano, Italy. With young talents like Jan Schäublin, Manuel Melder and Dominik Zenhäusern, until then largely unknown to casual PCH fans, they shocked the world by beating the undefeated Dutch world champions by 5-4, ending the Netherlands’ international win-streak at 15.
This was the perfect leadup to Switzerland hosting the 2022 world cup, where they showed further improvements, ultimately getting dismissed 3-1 by eventual champion Denmark, in a semi final that felt a lot closer than it looked on the scoreboard. The team was however able to end the tournament on a high note, narrowly beating Finland 5-4 in the bronze-medal game.
Tactically, Team Switzerland has frequently found themselves caught in-between. While fans and spectators no doubt prefer the helter-skelter chaotic line-ups centered around gun-slingers Zenhäusern and Schäublin, Swiss coaches have often resorted to lineups featuring veterans Veronica Conceicao and Nelson Braillard in order to shore up the Swiss defense and ball-retention. Particularly the latter has been a point of weakness, and has led to excellent T-stick players Dave Inhelder and Raphael Bachmann having to fight losing battles against enemy counter-attacks.
It seems, then, that to make it out of the fiercely competitive group A, the Swiss still have a bit of growing up to do: They must improve their decision-making and clean up some of their defensive issues. The good news? Their stellar performance in the INJET tournament in April suggests that some of the issues may already be gone. After all, good decisions come with age and experience, and they already have some of the most exciting individual talent in the world.