Shaqiri's Switzerland to host Messi's Argentina

GENEVA (AP) — Pitting Switzerland against Lionel Messi and Argentina in an international friendly may not be as big of a mismatch as many might think.

Wednesday's game got a timely boost with FC Basel's emergence in the Champions League around a young group of homegrown players including Xherdan Shaqiri, Switzerland's version of Messi.

When the match was announced last August, Argentina was No. 9 in FIFA's rankings and Switzerland had slumped to No. 30 during a failed European Championship qualification campaign.

Now, the teams are ranked No. 11 and No. 16 ahead of the game at the Stade de Suisse in Bern.

Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld can call on five members of the Basel team which beat Bayern Munich 1-0 last week in the first leg of a Champions League last-16 match.

Attention will be on the 20-year-old Shaqiri — quick, technical and left-footed just like Messi, whom he calls "my model."

Shaqiri has become the focus at Basel after starring in an upset victory over Manchester United in December, and agreeing to a €11.6 million ($15.6 million) move to Bayern at the end of the season.

For his adopted country, the Kosovo-born Shaqiri showed he can carry the team when scoring a hat trick in a 3-1 win against Bulgaria last September.

Basel goalkeeper Yann Sommer has also stepped into the spotlight, and is likely to be given his international debut after an outstanding display to deny Bayern.

The 23-year-old Sommer was entrusted as the club's top keeper when it allowed captain Franco Costanzo, a former Argentina international, to leave in the offseason.

However, Hitzfeld says Wolfsburg's Diego Benaglio remains his first first choice going into qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, which begins in September. Benaglio has not conceded a goal in his last three internationals, including a scoreless draw in the Netherlands in November.

Argentina has already played four matches in its campaign to reach the finals in Brazil, and has seven points to be sit second on goal difference behind Uruguay in the nine-team South American group.

The next qualifier for coach Alejandro Sabella's team is at home to Ecuador on June 2.

Sabella has selected mostly Europe-based players for the friendly, which finds Argentina playing in Switzerland for the second straight year.

Last February in Geneva, Argentina beat Portugal 2-1 in the first international meeting between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, his predecessor as FIFA World Player of the Year. Messi scored with a 90th-minute penalty after setting up Angel di Maria for an early goal which was equalized by Ronaldo.

Di Maria dropped out of Sabella's squad last week because of a muscle injury in his right leg, and was replaced by Atletico Madrid's Eduardo Salvio.

Sabella also gave first call-ups to 19-year-old AS Roma midfielder Erik Lamela and 31-year-old defender Hugo Campagnaro of Napoli, another Champions League winner last week.

Switzerland, which has Napoli midfielders Gokhan Inler and Blerim Dzemaili, has an injury doubt over Arsenal defender Johan Djourou, who has strained a right thigh muscle.

Inler will have an additional duty as captain for this game.

Hitzfeld said he will ask Inler to help resolve within the team who should get Messi's shirt after the match.