Group E Team Previews of the 20th FIFA World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014.
Switzerland (FIFA Ranking- 6th)
The men from the Alps have made 9 previous appearances and will look to justify their high FIFA ranking. They have reached the quarterfinals on 3 previous occasions.
Star players- Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg)
Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus)
Valon Behrami & Gokhan Inler (Napoli)
Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern Munich)
They can be expected to progress to the last 16 with France being their biggest threat.
Progress– They should reach the last 16 and with a goof performance, they can fancy their chances of reaching another quarterfinal.
Ecuador (FIFA Ranking- 26th)
This will be their 3rd appearance and they qualified in 4th place ahead of Uruguay thanks to a slightly better goal difference. While they were unbeatable at home in the qualifiers, their away form was the exact opposite. They made it to the round of 16 in 2006 in Germany.
They will finish 3rd in their group but will try to upset the 2 big European sides in the group.
Star players- Antonio Valencia (Manchester United)
Progress– They will crash out at the group stage.
France (FIFA Ranking- 17th)
The 1998 winners will make their 14th appearance and will aim to have a strong run in the tournament. They finished 2nd behind Spain in their qualifying group and had to come through yet another playoff. They lost 2-0 in the 1st leg away in Ukraine but scored 3 at home to secure qualification.
Star players– Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur)
Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny & Olivier Giroud (Arsenal)
Karim Benzema & Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)
Patrice Evra (Manchester United)
Yohan Cabaye (PSG)
Paul Pogba (Juventus)
They will certainly miss Franck Ribery who is injured and will not take part.
They must surely top the group unless Switzerland pull off something special in their meeting.
Progress– They can be expected to reach the quarterfinals.
Honduras (FIFA Ranking- 33rd)
This will be their 3rd appearance and they managed to qualify in convincing style given their lower ranking.
Star players- Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic)
Maynor Figueroa (Hull City)
Wilson Palacios (Stoke City)
They will surely finish last but their wilful defending may be a bit tough for their opponents to get past.
Progress– They will crash out at the group stage.
