Monday 8 September 2014

WILL ROY'S BOYS GO CUCKOO

Roy Hodgson, much criticised manager of our national team,  sparked a revolution in Swiss football.
‘We are still benefiting today from the structures he put in place at the time,’ said new Swiss manager Vladimir Petkovic,  reflecting on Hodgson’s influence on Swiss football, nearly 20 years ago. Petkovic was playing in Switzerland at the time, but coming to the end of his career and beginning to take an interest in coaching.
Hodgson proved to be a modernising force. It was his work with the Swiss FA that led the national team to their first World Cup finals in 28 years. The popular tabloid newspaper “Blick” ran a series called ‘Roy was for me…’ which featured memories from the stars of his USA ’94 squad.
‘Roy welded us together,’ said Ciriaco Sforza, who won 79 caps for Switzerland. ‘We would train and train again. By the time we were finished, we could do it blind. We had success that made us strong against any opponent. ‘Before the World Cup we were average players and after the World Cup, our success allowed us to be bought by foreign clubs. This open doors for following generations.’
Having been appointed in January 1992, at the age of 44, Hodgson devoted time to drilling the team into his style. Clubs agreed to release players for four mini training camps each year. They would gather in different parts of the country for three days of intensive tactical work.
Most Swiss clubs were playing with a sweeper at the time and he was keen to reshape them into  4-4-2 formation. At one point in 1993, they were ranked third in the world by FIFA. After the World Cup in 1994, they qualified for Euro 1996, although Hodgson had  left for Inter Milan by then.

Twelve out of the 23 named squad are playing with German teams, three play in Switzerland and Philippe Senderos plays for Aston Villa. Xherdan Shaqiri, 22 years old, from Bayern Munich, has scored 12 goals in 38 appearances from midfield. Presently 9th in FIFA ranking, Switzerland is more highly thought of than England.

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