European pair will continue World Cup campaigns with clash in Los Angeles.
Group B
Friday, 19 June | Los Angeles Stadium
Kick-off time
03:00 (GMT+8)
The match
Switzerland will take on Bosnia-Herzegovina in an intriguing all-European clash in Los Angeles. The Swiss have reached the knockout phase at the past three editions of FIFA World Cup™ and will be hungry for three points after giving up a surprising late goal to Qatar in their opening match. Bosnia, meanwhile, are aiming to break new ground having been eliminated in the group phase in their only previous appearance at the global finals in 2014. To do so, Bosnia will need to find a way past the tough Swiss defence in their first-ever World Cup clash.
Switzerland possible starting XI
Kobel; Zakaria, Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez; Aebischer, Xhaka, Freuler; Ndoye, Embolo, Vargas
Bosnia-Herzegovina possible starting XI
Vasilj, Dedic, Katic, Muharemovic, Kolasinac; Bajraktarevic, Tahirovic, Basic, Memic; Demirovic, Lukic
What they said…
“We play a very intense game, so you need to run a lot and score two, three, four goals. If you don’t do that, you have to be clever and control the game. The goals we conceded recently all followed the same pattern. We have to play our game, make very few mistakes. We have to put a lot of pressure on them, keep their defence occupied and use our chances. They’re very confident in their set pieces and we’ve been warned – of course we’ll try to concede as few as possible.” Murat Yakin, Switzerland coach
“I think that pressure is part of our job, especially at this highest level. So I don’t think that’s a problem for [Switzerland]. They have way too much experience for that pressure to take any toll on them. Of course, their ambitions are a bit bigger than ours, but tomorrow we’re again coming to play for the three points. We’ve seen quite a lot of surprises, no matter how much of a favourite or an underdog you are, nothing is simple. I think it’s important that you stay prepared and you are fit to play, that you bring the level of your game.” Sergej Barbarez, Bosnia-Herzegovina coach
“We need to be better than the Swiss team. If we give our 100 per cent and show all we’ve got on the pitch as well, I think it’s going to be a great game and then we are confident we’ll have a good score at the very end. There are many moving pieces here and it depends a lot on how they play, but we hope that we will be the ones who will come on top tomorrow.” Nikola Katic, Bosnia-Herzegovina defender
Los Angeles Stadium
Los Angeles Stadium is the newest venue chosen to host FIFA World Cup 2026™, having opened in September 2020. It is situated just a 30-minute drive from Pasadena’s famous Rose Bowl, which hosted the 1994 World Cup final. Both the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers play their National Football League fixtures at the venue, which has already hosted a number of concerts under its iconic and unique roof, including Taylor Swift, BTS and Ed Sheeran.