SWISS timing is renowned the world over, but for once they haven't got it quite right. Ten years into a massive youth development programme aimed at delivering a side fit to grace Euro 2008, which they co-host, they have arrived in Germany with a squad rich in talent which has bloomed early.

It is what makes their meeting with France on Tuesday one of the most intriguing ties of the first week. There is no doubting the quality the French possess; the question is whether age will wither their ambitions.

Thierry Henry may be in his prime at 28, but there are plenty of thirtysomethings in the ranks of Les Bleus. Not so the Swiss, with half of the team who qualified for this World Cup having come through successful junior teams.

Henry's Arsenal team-mate Philippe Senderos captained the Under-17 team crowned European champions in 2002, while Tranquillo Barnetta graduated from the same side to earn a first team place with Bayer Leverkusen.

Meanwhile striker Alexander Frei, Ricardo Cabanas, Ludovic Magnin and Daniel Gygax all played under manager Jakob "Koebi" Kuhn during his reign as Under-21 manager.

Four national training academies have been set up and such ambition is reflected in the current national team, which is young, quick and technical and well marshalled by a wily coach.

That they drew with France home and away in the qualifying campaign suggests there should be no inferiority complex - a trait which has, historically, undermined past campaigns.

Those who were at Hampden in March to watch Scotland beaten 3-1 by Kuhn's side could testify to their qualities, even if star man Frei was absent through injury. Their swiftness of movement and sharpness of mind was typified by the performance of Johann Vogel; the AC Milan man pulling the strings in midfield.

This is their first appearance in a World Cup finals since 1994, when they reached the second round. But this team is very different from that former vintage. That their passage to Germany included a controversial play-off win over Turkey should have dispelled, once and for all, the chocolate box image of their country.

In the white-hot atmosphere of Istanbul, their progress on the away goals rule sparked violent confrontations as the players left the pitch, with Switzerland's Benjamin Huggel at the centre of a brawl which saw him kick Turkey's assistant coach.

Huggel's penalty was a six-game ban which precludes him from this game, but his team-mates have proved they have the bottle to go with their guile.

The downside for the Swiss is the very qualities that make them so good to watch are not exhibited by enough of the players behind Vogel.

Even more worryingly, one of the many World Cup supplements described goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuhler as "the David James of the Alps".

Given Fabien Barthez is in goal at the other end, it should make for an interesting evening.