The Swiss view: Swiss journalist Christian Andiel explains why the expectations in Switzerland have changed since they last qualified for a championship

It's strange how quickly football fans get used to success, how quickly they forget how it was before the good times came along. Swiss supporters are a good example, maybe Irish fans are too.

Between the 1966 and 1994 World Cups Switzerland failed to qualify for a single major tournament, then they made it to USA '94 and Euro '96. Everyone said "we can't take this for granted", but they did. So, since Euro '96, there has been growing frustration with the failures of the team, to the point where Swiss fans ask: "How is it possible to sink so fast from the top of world football to the levels of a second, or maybe even third, class nation?"

The answer is quite simple: Switzerland is a second or third class nation in sports generally, in football in particular. They have never had the same reservoir of talent like the great nations, so they will always have ups and downs, like Denmark, Norway - and Ireland.

In Switzerland sport has a relatively minor role in the society - the Calvinistic philosophy does not accept sport as a profession, more a well paid part of show business. That attitude is in marked contrast to our Alpine neighbour, Austria, where top sports people are national heroes. In Switzerland it is always asked about famous sports people: "What the hell did he/she do to earn so much money?"

So if you want to have success with the Swiss national team you need a lot of work, a lot of talent, a lot of patience - and a lot of luck. Roy Hodgson had all of this when he led Switzerland to "heaven", in 1994 and 1996. He had the perfect mixture of talented players and luck; almost all of his players, in the early 1990s, were trying to get lucrative moves to foreign leagues - only Stephane Chapuisat and Ciriaco Sforza had that experience before then.

So, the likes of Pascolo and Knup, Ohrel and Hottiger, Vega and Vogel, Sutter and Bickel played for their own futures, tried to catch the eye of foreign clubs every time they appeared for Switzerland which, of course, helped Roy Hodgson and the national team.

These days almost all the team is playing "abroad", earning good money in the German, French or Dutch leagues. The Bosman ruling changed so much in football, and also lowered the obstacles in the way of Swiss players moving to foreign clubs.

For the manager, though, this situation presents its own problems - how does he get the most out of players who feel they have nothing to prove, who didn't need to show what they can do when they play for Switzerland. Maybe this only takes a small percentage away from the team's "efficiency", but when a team is this fragile it can make all the difference.

Coach Kobi Kuhn's other problem is that the country, with a population of just six million, has such a small pool of players, so he can struggle to find a real quality player to fill every position. That is where Hodgson was so lucky 10 years ago, he had leaders likes Bregy, Geiger and Koller for organisation; he had the brave and robust Herr and Vega in defence; he had Sforza as a midfielder, who had been very dangerous in the box; he had the fast and creative Sutter, Hottiger and Ohrel, the skilful Chapuisat and effective Knup in attack.

Now? Well, Kuhn still has Chapuisat, but he is a veteran and would probably retire if qualifying hopes ended on Saturday. He also has Haas who plays with West Brom and Meyer, who is not a regular for his team in the Bundesliga. He has a midfielder who has only scored two goals in 60 games (Vogel), and a striker, Frei, who is often only a sub at Rennes.

Kuhn has a strong central defence, but it is in attack where the team is weak. There is no Swiss Michael Owen, the best player is Hakan Yakin, who is troubled with an ankle injury this week. Twenty-two-year-old Marco Streller has been brought in to the squad for the first time - he has been outstanding for FC Basel, but the Swiss Super League is not quite the same level as international football.

Saturday's game will leave Swiss fans either enthused again, or depressed - and may well answer the question of whether the nation belongs in the elite of world football, or the lower divisions.

Christian Andiel is a journalist with Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.