Despite the threat of Poland and Albania proving to be quite the surprise package in World Cup 2022 Qualifying, England’s spot at the showpiece event was never in any real doubt, with the Three Lions taking 26 points from 30 on offer to book their plane tickets.
Scoring an astonishing 15 goals and conceding zero in their final two clashes with Albania and whipping boys San Marino capped off a near-faultless qualification bid from the Euro 2020 finalists, as Gareth Southgate’s side now seek to go one better at the imminent – yet highly controversial – World Cup.
Southgate’s preparations for March’s friendlies have already been disrupted by injury after injury, and a meeting with Ivory Coast three days later is hardly a walk in the park, but confidence ought to be high at the fortress that is Wembley.
Since the Euros, England have collected five wins from a possible seven in World Cup Qualifying – keeping a clean sheet in each of those victories and only shipping a total of two goals in their pair of draws with Poland and Hungary – and it is now 13 unbeaten for the Three Lions at Wembley across all competitions.
Furthermore, each one of England’s last eight friendly matches has ended in victory, and not since June 2018 have Southgate’s side conceded a goal in a Wembley friendly, although Switzerland will certainly have a thing or two to say about that.
Also navigating their World Cup 2022 Qualifying group without a single defeat, Switzerland’s start under Murat Yakin has gone swimmingly for the former international, who has instilled quite the sense of defensive discipline into his side since August.
Switzerland saw off the threat of reigning continental champions Italy to finish atop the rankings in Group C and force the Euro 2020 winners to settle for a spot in the playoffs, with a 4-0 win over Bulgaria in November capping off a strong qualification performance.
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Managing to hold Italy to a pair of 0-0 and 1-1 stalemates typified the resilience of this Swiss side, with the goal they conceded in the latter draw to Giovanni Di Lorenzo representing the only time that their defence has been breached in their last seven matches.
Friendly wins away from home have been hard to come by for the world’s 14th-ranked nation, though, with the visitors winless in their last three exhibition matches on rival turf and only claiming two victories from their last 10 such matches.
That miserable run includes a 1-0 defeat to England in September 2018 courtesy of Marcus Rashford’s strike – their fourth successive loss against the Three Lions – and not since 1981 have the Rossocrociati managed to triumph against England in any tournament
