Looks like it has been a tactical trend on this year’s World Cup, as compact 4-4-2 defensive structures won many people’s hearts since the competition started.

OOne of those teams is quite a surprise, as they proceeded into knockout stages by winning the 1st place in group F in front of Mexico and last World Cup champion Germany.

1. They are the team that relies on defensive unity and compact 4-4-2. Many have thought that they will miss Ibrahimovic a lot, as their quality was undervalued, but they proved everyone wrong and became a really tough team to beat.
   They don’t have much creativity in the team going forward, so they rely on counter-attacking play and set-pieces. Those are their biggest threats, and definitely something that they can use to hurt Switzerland.
2. Switzerland had a bit tougher time in the group stages, but they showed more quality then Serbia and Costa Rica to go through in the knockout stages.

They are very dynamic and movement is fluid across phases of offensive organization, and they have their ways to play through any kind of defense, which they showed against Brazil. They have a bit shaky defense, and have issues to retain horizontal compactness throughout the match, especially on the right flank where Shaqiri either stays too far from the nearest central midfielder, or is late to track back and provide defensive support.