The Swiss unarguably flubbed their own European Championships in 2008, finishing with a single win in three games and at rock bottom in their group. But since then, the team seems to have undergone a complete transformation: they are now 3 points clear at the top of their World Cup 2010 qualification group and have almost booked a berth to South Africa. What explains this seeming makeover?

One of the reasons is the return in the national squad of FC Twente’s Blaise Nkufo (pictured). The powerful forward scored against Israel in the first qualifier, before stretching the scoring series to 6 games.

His partners seem to have added, too. The FTBL rating of FC Basel’s Alexander Frei has reached 170 points at one point, a remarkable achievement.

The impression is that the Euro-08 caught the Swiss midway in their evolution: after all, didn’t they beat the Portuguese in their final match then?