Marco Wolfli provides a solid backup for Switzerland's first-choice goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. After playing the full 90 minutes of his country's final qualification match for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ against Israel, the 28-year-old made enough of an impression to assure the Swiss fans that they have a quality second shot-stopper should Benaglio be unavailable for any reason.<\/P>
Wolfli joined Super League club Young Boys at the age of 17 but after struggling to break through into the first team squad, he was loaned out to FC Thun in 2002. The reliable keeper made 17 league appearances at the Lachen Stadium, impressing his parent club enough to recall him after 18 months.<\/P>
The 1.85m Swiss international has been with the Bern outfit for almost seven years now, and aside from three runners-up finishes in the Super League (2004, 2008 and 2009), the talented custodian has also twice reached the Swiss Cup final, though the trophy itself eluded him on both occasions.<\/P>
Wolfli made his debut for the Swiss national team in November 2008 in a friendly match against Finland after previously earning his stripes with various national youth squads, making 25 appearances for the U-21s.<\/P>
The Young Boys goalkeeper is looking forward to linking up with good friend and international colleague Hakan Yakin at South Africa 2010: "It would be a dream come true for both of us if we could share a hotel room in South Africa," he explained at the beginning of the year.<\/P>","7DECC0B2C7F83A01B36F8F67FA49C295":"2000-7-1","031D6804B38B16BF":"19536","3D0CAED1D8820318D15DE014CB00C4C7":"Switzerland","2299C98649C2E7A9E5F02ED855F2A9FC":"FC Thun[on loan],Young Boys(U21),Young Boys(U18)","F4AE865DDB6B58D9":"Marco Wolfli","C497EA9EA23AEEDCAF9AD5DB76B19323":"","97C471949E1057BED9C5A535F14529AAF72A852D44EC1724":"1","9085EF0B5B518612":"88kg","C99F63DD4716E450533B17E1817DB7B9":"1982-8-22","2B1A74B80063A830":"1","38FCF119BEE99893":"Young Boys","776ABA890334BE6B3BFB7EFC5D96F457":"FC Thun[on loan]","e_index":6};