Switzerland will be bidding to make it three wins from their opening three Euro 2024 qualification matches when they take on Andorra in Group I on Friday night.

A-Team have beaten Belarus and Israel in their first two games in the section to move to the summit, while Andorra have lost to Romania and drawn with Kosovo in their opening two matches.

Match preview

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Andorra have never qualified for the finals of a major tournament, so it would be a huge shock if they were present at the finals of the next European Championship.

The Tricolours have only ever won one European Championship qualification match, which is an indication of their struggles, but they will enter this game off the back of a 1-1 draw with Kosovo on March 28.

Edon Zhegrova sent Kosovo ahead in the 59th minute of their contest last time out, but Albert Rosas levelled two minutes later to secure a point for Andorra, who opened their section with a 2-0 home loss to Romania.

Koldo Alvarez has been in charge of Andorra since January 2010, managing just 10 wins from 106 matches, suffering 80 defeats in the process, so he will be aware of the size of the task facing his side in this section.

Unless something extraordinary happens, the team will not be at Euro 2024, but steps forward can be made, and potentially picking up a record points total in a qualification section would be a huge positive.

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Switzerland, on the other hand, will have their eyes firmly on top position in this section, and A-Team have made a strong start, picking up six points from their opening two matches.

Murat Yakin's side thumped Belarus 5-0 in their group opener on March 25 before recording a 3-0 victory over Israel in their second match three days later, which has put them in a strong position.

Switzerland will now face Andorra and Romania in back-to-back fixtures, and two more wins would put them in an excellent spot ahead of their return to action away to Kosovo in September.

Nati made the quarter-finals of Euro 2020, which represented their best-ever performance at a European Championship, following on from making the round of 16 at Euro 2016.

Switzerland have also now made the knockout round in each of the last three World Cup finals, including in Qatar last year, when they were ultimately eliminated by Portugal, suffering a 6-1 defeat in the round of 16.

Team News

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Andorra played a 5-4-1 formation against Kosovo last time out and that is again expected to be the case in this contest, with Rosas set to feature at the tip of the attack.

Rosas, 20, has now netted three times for the national side, and he is already the third-highest goalscorer in the squad behind Marc Vales (five) and Marc Pujol (four).

There are not expected to be any real surprises in the Andorra XI for this match, with Max Llovera and Marc Garcia again set to feature at the back, while Marc Vales should retain his spot in central midfield.

As for Switzerland, Silvan Widmer, Breel Embolo and Cedric Itten are notable absentees from the squad.

Widmer and Itten both started against Israel last time out, so there will have to be at least two changes to the XI for this match, with Jordan Lotomba and Haris Seferovic potentially coming in for starts.

A strong midfield should include Granit Xhaka, Remo Freuler and Denis Zakaria, while Zeki Amdouni has scored twice in his first three appearances for the national side and should continue in the XI.

Andorra possible starting lineup:
Alvarez; C Rubio, Llovera, Guillen, Alavedra, Garcia; J Rubio, M Vales, E Vales, Cervos; Rosas

Switzerland possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Lotomba, Akanji, Elvedi, Rodriguez; Freuler, Zakaria, Xhaka; Amdouni, Seferovic, Vargas

We say: Andorra 0-3 Switzerland

Switzerland will be expecting to put another three points on the board here, and we are finding it very difficult to back anything other than a comfortable away success. A-Team have superior quality all across the pitch and should be far too strong for their opponents on Friday night.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Matt Law

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