World Cup 2026: How Granit Xhaka will make or break Switzerland's tournament hopes

This summer's tournament will be Switzerland's sixth consecutive World Cup, and their 13th overall. They have managed to make the quarter-finals on three occasions, and will look to progress even further in the United States, Canada and Mexico.A household name thanks to his exploits in the Premier League, Sunderland skipper Granit Xhaka will be the man to watch, given his impressive performances for club and country. The 33-year-old has 12 appearances to his name at the tournament over the last three World Cups, as well as 143 caps overall for his country, arguably the most tactically intelligent player his country has ever produced.However, as Swiss football expert Craig King - aka FootballSwissEN - explains, there's plenty of reason for football fans to follow Switzerland in the coming months...JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! All the best sports news and much more on our dedicated Facebook page‌Content cannot be displayed without consentA manager walking on eggshellsOn the face of things, Murat Yakin's short tenure with Switzerland has been incredibly sweet - taking the reins from Vladimir Petkovia in 2021 and guiding the nation through 2022 World Cup qualifying with ease, before registering a round of 16 finish at the tournament.However, King explains that it hasn't always been plain sailing for the manager - who may not have even been Switzerland's first choice to succeed Petkovia. He explained: "Murat Yakin came in, who at the time was managing in the second-tier of Swiss football - not a team that was necessarily challenging for promotion."He'd had jobs at Basel and things beforehand but he wasn't in a great moment in his career, so he was an odd choice - not everybody's first choice. But he came in and he kind of steadied the team a bit in that campaign.‌"They were really hard to beat defensively, they finished above Italy, and at that point he kind of had a lot of support. But then qualifying for the last Euro...