Akanji insists Switzerland will make life tough for Canada in Group B showdown

[p]A win or a draw would secure top spot for ‌co-hosts [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/canada/x4toKORL/"]Canada[/a] and confirm their place in the World ‌Cup knockout stage for the first time.[/p][p]Both teams have four points from ‌two matches, with Canada leading the group on goal difference. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/switzerland/rHJ2vy1B/"]‌Switzerland[/a], who began the tournament as Group B favourites, drew 1-1 with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/qatar/zqzHL77i/"]Qatar[/a] before beating [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/bosnia-herzegovina/fqe7WYTr/"]Bosnia and Herzegovina[/a] 4-1, and need at least a ‌point to guarantee a place in the round ⁠of 32.[/p][p][b]"I know that they ‌want to win, but we also want to win here," [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/akanji-manuel/UJm2XpLH/"]Akanji[/a] told ​reporters on Tuesday.[/b][/p][p][b]"We are not going to make it easy for them. We're going to try our best ​tomorrow. I think if we show our best side, we're going to win tomorrow.[/b][/p][p][b]"But they also won't make it easy for ⁠us. So we've got ​to be ready for it."[/b][/p][image alt="Switzerland - Canada win probability" id="d4b6e3be-cebf-4827-818b-abd0de2afedb" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="24dac776-bf2c-40c5-a626-dde24eb737c9" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Switzerland have progressed beyond the group stage in five of their last six World Cup appearances but have consistently fallen at the round-of-16 hurdle.[/p][p]They were beaten by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/portugal/WvJrjFVN/"]Portugal[/a] at ‌that stage in Qatar in 2022, though they showed signs of improvement by reaching the European Championship quarter-finals in 2024.[/p][p][b]"I think our strength was always that we work as a team on the pitch," Akanji added. "We also know we don't have three top-10 players in the world like other nations do, so it only works in that way.[/b][/p][p][b]"It's a team sport and we try to improve on things that we didn't do well and ‌I think as well on the last few Euros we went ​past the round of 16, but we weren't able ‌to do it on the World Cup so far.[/b][/p][p][b]"So I hope we can do it this time, but it's still a long way to go. But I think consistency is really important, that we try to do the things the ⁠same way and also try ⁠to improve the things ‌we didn't do well before."[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/canada-x4toKORL/switzerland-rHJ2vy1B/?mid=2wQjwkpp"]Follow the game with Flashscore.[/a][/p][infobox id="4ccc1b10-d68f-4c97-bcf4-5e613c17c2e3" /]