Crnogorcevic has played a crucial part in the Swiss qualifying for their first ever World Cup. The 24-year-old has seen her stock grow over recent years and has been part of what some could refer to as the ‘golden girls’ in Swiss football alongside Lara Dickenmann and Ramona Bachmann. Her career to date has seen her play in her home country before various spells in Germany, working her way up the ladder to one of the best sides in Europe, if not the women’s game. She started her career at her home town team, Steffisburg before moving Rot-Schwarz Thun where she won the Swiss Cup. Her career took off when she moved to FC Thun where she thoroughly impressed, finishing the 2009 season as the national championships (Nationaliga A) top scorer with 24 goals. This earned her a move to Germany with Northern side Hamburg and her form there after just one season led FFC Frankfurt to sign her in 2011 where she remains today. Regarding her international career, Crnogorcevic burst onto the scene at under-19 level where she scored an impressive 25 goals in 29 games, including ones that helped the side reach the 2009 UEFA championship. Later that year she made her debut for the senior side where she has fully established herself by scoring 35 goals in 69 appearances. For this upcoming World Cup Crnogorcevic has the chance to show her huge potential in a group which the Swiss have a reasonable chance of finishing top, playing group favourites Japan, Ecuador and Cameroon. Her opponents throughout the tournament will have to be wary of her pace to get in behind defenders as well as her ability to score goals with her head.
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Switzerland’s not known for its women’s football but that could be about to change after the international team qualified for their first ever World cup back in June, with the World Cup taking place later this year in Canada. Women’s football as a whole has grown massively over the last 15 years with a number of Football Association’s from around the world, specifically in Europe putting more money into the women’s setup, with the Swiss FA making extra effort in developing the ladies game over the last few years. This is proven with the Swiss FA giving the Swiss women’s football team their own training base which has been moved to Biel from central Switzerland and the women’s side will play their games at the new stadium in Biel (Canton of Bern) once complete. Furthermore the Swiss youngster’s hoping to be footballers will go to school in Biel, meaning they will benefit from education side as well as the football training side. This just underlines the Swiss FA’s commitment to improving the game within the country. Built on strong foundations The foundations for the Country’s recent success were laid a couple of years ago when in 2012 Switzerland appointed former German international Martina Voss as coach. Voss has built on the previous regime set by the previous coach (Beatrice Von Siebenthal) and inspired the team to qualification for Canada. Under Voss Switzerland achieved their highest ever FIFA ranking in June this year (19th) a spot which they continue to hold. As well as coaching the national team she will also be responsible for the Credit Suisse academy, thus ensuring new talents keep on emerging in years to come. Furthermore the qualification has seen the emergence of some young attacking talent such as Ramona Bachmann (currently plying her trade at Rosengard in Sweden) and Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic (pictured) (at FFC Frankfurt) who have both chipped in with a number of goals along with experienced Lyon midfielder Lara Dickenmann, who finished the leading goal scorer of the group with 10 goals. However the defence has been equally impressive with the only goal conceded coming against group favourites Denmark in a 1-1 draw. Overall view The Swiss were very impressive in qualifying after scoring 53 and only conceding 1 goal as well as remaining unbeaten. On top of this they completed qualifying with a near perfect record after winning 9 and drawing the other at home to Denmark. Qualifying for their first World Cup is a great achievement, one which I doubt would have been possible without the leadership of Voss who has instilled belief in the team and helped them achieve their potential. In my opinion I believe the Swiss can be very dangerous next year in Canada and cause a lot of team’s problems especially with their attacking prowess, not forgetting their extremely solid defence. This was evident in the friendly against the USA last August, as despite losing 4-1 they did cause the current World number 1’s plenty of problems and will be able to learn from this result to make them better prepared for next year. The goal for the Swiss in that game was scored by Crnogorcevic from the penalty spot. Making a prediction for the finals I feel that the Swiss could achieve a ¼ final spot in what could be the toughest World Cup yet, but I’m sure they would just be happy to get out of the group. The futures definitely a bright one for this small nation. |
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