World Cup | Group E Preview

We preview round one of Group E in the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

By Scott Condon (@TheCONDO)

Switzerland v Ecuador
Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, Brasilia

An intriguing match up to start up Group E. Switzerland who went through the European qualifying phase undefeated up against Ecuador, a nation bordering Brazil who will be looking for that host continent support.

Ranked six in the world, Switzerland are flying well and truly under the radar and aren't even favorite to top the group despite their extremely impressive qualifying form and high rankings, maybe this is because they haven't made the quarter finals for 60 years.

Ecuador did things a little tougher on their way to their third World Cup Finals appearance and will be the feel good story of the tournament if they can make it past the group stage after the sudden death of star striker Christian "Chucho" Benitez.  Ecuador were undefeated at home but did not win away in qualifying.

Don't expect a high scoring game in this one, Switzerland only scored 17 goals from their 10 qualifying matches and Ecuador do not posses the goal scoring prowess of the bigger nations.

The Swiss will play a neat passing game hoping to poke holes in the Ecuadorian defense like Swiss Cheese, "La Tri" will push all their attack via the wings.


France v Honduras
Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre

'Les Blues' were one of the fancied side with the punters before Frank Ribery was ruled out, there hasn't been much love since. Benzema will lead their attack and in a weaker group France should still come out on top. After an embarrassing exit from the 2010 tournament the French will need to show something to get the country's population back on side.

Honduras 'Los Catrachos' qualified for their second consecutive FIFA World Cup but are at long odds to get out of the Group Stage. Ranked 33 in the world they only kept two clean sheets from ten qualifying games. Honduras has not won a World Cup Finals match in six attempts only managing the solitary point in a brave showing against fellow Group E side Switzerland at the 2010 finals.

Karim Benzema will be the man France relies upon to score the goals having scored four in his last five games for the national side. Expect him to be on song in this match with Honduras shaky at the back to say the least.