Wayne Rooney will be eyeing history when England face Switzerland at Wembley on Tuesday, as the striker is level with Sir Bobby Charlton with 49 international goals. A solitary goal for the Manchester United striker will help him become England's leading scorer on his own, but Rooney might have greater ambitions with the national team -- to lift Euro 2016 -- after their dismal performance in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where the Three Lions failed to get past the group stages.
However, things have changed drastically after the World Cup for England, who qualified for the Euro 2016 in France with an easy win over San Marino last week.
England are the only team in the qualifiers to have not dropped a single point in their seven fixtures, and they will want to maintain the perfect record when they face Switzerland in London.
Switzerland, who have accumulated 15 points so far, might have done enough to qualify for Euro 2016, as they lie second in Group E, a healthy five points ahead of Estonia. However, the Swiss cannot afford to take things for granted, which makes the match even more interesting. If they hand England their first loss in the qualifiers, Switzerland will almost guarantee a Euro 2016 place as an automatic qualifier.
Roy Hodgson, who was criticised for England's performance in the World Cup, will get another shot at redemption when his team starts his Euro 2016 campaign next year. Hodgson believes Switzerland, who England could meet in France, will be a huge test.
"With them also basically qualified it is going to be the two teams that might possibly meet up again in France, this is an early tester in relation to that," said Hodgson, who will be under huge pressure to come up with a good performance in Euro 2016.
The England team have never been short of quality players, but they have always faltered at the big stage. Even the so called "golden generation" of players such as Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry and David Beckham could not bring glory to England.
While this present England team do not possess any bona fide world-class players, they believe they can deliver the goods. Rooney, who is the biggest star in the team, should try to get the best out of his youngsters.
One of their key players, Michael Carrick, has pulled out with an injury for the Switzerland game, but Hodgson will not have any problem in playing with the same 4-3-3 formation as they have huge depth in the squad.
"There are other options for us," Hodgson added. "Fabian Delph played well in the game [against San Marino], we have Ryan Mason, we have James Milner who is capable of playing in other positions," said Hodgson.
"We have options in that area without radically changing our system of players."
Despite their current form and an impressive run, England cannot take Switzerland, who have won their last five Euro qualifiers in succession, lightly. Switzerland showed a lot of character in their last game against Slovenia as they came back from two goals down to win the match 3-2.
Switzerland posses a huge threat in the offensive end, and if the England defence gives them even an inch, these Swiss players can pounce on the opportunity.
Switzerland were comfortably defeated by England last year, but Switzerland's boss, Vladimir Petkovic, feels the team have performed better since the defeat.
"We have definitely moved forward since we played England last year," Vladimir Petkovic said. "I would say we are at about 70-80% of what we can achieve.
"The main difference is we've got to know each other better. Since that defeat, we have had positive results and played in a good style. I hope we can confirm that. We need points and have to show we can play in a stadium like Wembley."
Where to Watch Live
The home fans at Wembley will be eager to witness the Three Lions emerge triumphant when the England vs Switzerland clash takes place. The Euro 2016 Qualifier match is scheduled for an 7.45 pm local time (12.15 am IST, 2.45 pm ET) start with live TV coverage in India on Sony Kix and live streaming online on Livsports.
Viewers in the UK can enjoy live coverage of England vs Switzerland Euro 2016 Qualifier match live on ITV 4 UK and can watch it online on ITV4 Player.
US viewers can catch England vs Switzerland Euro 2016 Qualifier match live on ESPN 2 and live streaming on ESPN.
Australia audience can catch England vs Switzerland Euro 2016 Qualifier match live on ESPN Australia, while football fans in Switzerland can catch the entire game live on RTS Sport.
