Football Manager Live Switzerland players to watch: Diego Benaglio and Tranquillo Barnetta
To celebrate both the World Cup and the addition of a new multiplayer game, Football Manager Live , to the Football Manager family, MirrorFootball have asked me (Miles, gaffer at Sports Interactive who make the Football manager series of games) to come up with some players to watch out for in the World Cup that you might not have heard of before, using our huge global scouting network and the famous FM database.
We're going to be looking at a player for each World Cup team during the first round of the tournament after which we'll introduce something very special indeed for the knockout stages.
Switzerland
As you may or may not be aware, Switzerland are actually a pretty decent team. They've quietly qualified for nine World Cup finals, and while they weren't in the strongest of qualifying groups, they did advance ahead of Israel who have some pretty good young players. That said, Greece finished second in the group, and looked like lost sheep against South Korea.
Some of the Swiss players you'll know, just because they've been around for so long! Veterans such as Alexander Frei and Hakan Yakin have played in many tournaments, and you'll also know West Ham's Valon Behrami, ex-Manchester City man Gelson Fernandes and Phillipe Senderos, who recently joined Fulham from Arsenal.
Reto Ziegler also used to play for Spurs, and I want to give special mention to Ben Huggel, a) because he's got a great name, and b) because he didn't start playing football until his 20s, having spent his youth enjoying life as a gardener!
With so many other players that you likely haven't heard of though, I've decided to highlight two, both of whom are part of the future of Swiss football.
First up is goalkeeper Diego Benaglio, who plays for Wolfsburg in Germany, and so won't have any excuses to hide behind regarding the World Cup ball as it's been used in the Bundesliga all year.
He's very tall, at 6'4", but his reach is much more than that thanks to his jumping skills (rated 17 out of 20 in the Football Manager database). His defenders should also always know what he's thinking as his command of area rating is 16, and communication 14.
Benaglio's excellent reflexes of 16, and one-on-ones rating of 16 mean he's difficult to get the ball past - and the Swiss certainly kept a lot of clean sheets in the qualifying rounds. As such, his form will be key for the Swiss in the tournament.
It's no good just keeping clean sheets though, and the Swiss will be looking for another of their German based players to set up the chances for the strikers, Leverkusen's winger Tranquillo Barnetta. He can play on the left or the right and, despite being just 24, has already won 50-odd caps.
With technique of 15 out of 20, work rate of 15, determination of 15, decisions of 15, and creativity of 14, Barnetta is a winger who works hard to create chances, but can also get the ball past defenders with dribbling of 15, and pace of 13.
He's also good with set pieces, with 16 for corners, and free kicks of 15, and expect him to try a few long range shots too, with long shots of 15.
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