In the early morning of June 30, the knockout round of Euro 2024 will begin. In the opening match, defending champions Italy will take on Switzerland, who had a good performance in the group stage. The latter can be described as Italy's bitter master, the "blue coats" in the last six meetings only one can win against the opponent, the last two matches in the world preliminaries ended in a draw, and because Jorginho missed two penalties and missed the World Cup. For this difficult opponent, Spalletti is trying to use the change of formation + rotation tricks to break through the key battle on the team's way to defend the title.
Switzerland's three group stage games were up and down, with a 3-1 win over Hungary in their first game, a surprise 1-1 draw by underdogs Scotland in the second, and a shock win over the hosts in the final round had it not been for Phil Kruger's equaliser header. This is the feat of the Swiss team to qualify from the group for six consecutive World Series since the 2014 World Cup.
However, the Swiss team has a "strange circle", in the six major tournaments, except for one to reach the top 8, the remaining five times have failed to cross the first round of the knockout round. And the only breakthrough was a 3-2 upset defeat to the favorite France in the 1/8 finals of the last European Cup.
Captain Xhaka will be hoping to equal two European Championship records: he has already been named the MVP of the match against Hungary and Germany, and if he can win this honor again, he will equal the likes of Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta and Andrea Pirlo to become the fourth player to win the MVP of a single European Championship for three times, and will also equal the record of six European Championship MVP held by Andres Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo.
There are a number of players in the Swiss team who play in Serie A, with striker Ndoye, midfielder Freuler and Ebecher playing for Bologna, left central defender Ricardo Rodriguez playing for Torino, and substitute striker Okafor from AC Milan.
Goalkeeper Sommer is the main player of Inter Milan, and the 35-year-old Inter goalkeeper will face Barella, Darmian, Bastoni, Frattesi and other club teammates. In addition, Sommer is also a "thorn in the heart" that the Italian team does not want to look back, and he rejected Jorginho's penalty twice in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, which indirectly led to Italy's failure to participate in the World Cup.
However, the Swiss team also has a big problem, the main right wing-back, Widmer, who plays for Mainz in the Bundesliga, has suffered a suspension, which has a big impact on the team's attack and defense on the right side. Stuttgart defender, also from the Bundesliga, is expected to start in his place. Steueu has only played as a substitute for Stuttgart this season, making just 18 appearances, including a measly six. In the national team, Steeuw has only made four appearances. He and Newcastle centre-back Fabian Schell are likely to be the focus of Italy's attack on the right flank.
Inter Milan also released a promotional poster for this game Switzerland VS Italy before the game
Perhaps seeing this, defending champion Italy coach Spalletti, who has been playing attacking skirmishes in Napoli, is planning to make changes to his team's attacking system. According to Sky Sports, Spalletti will rotate up to six players to start the game against Switzerland, and the team will also return to the 433 attacking formation, with Scamacca, Chiesa Jr. and Shaarawy appearing on the team's attacking line.
Sky Sports predicted that Italy will have up to six players in rotation
The two speed players, El Shaarawy and Chiesa Jr., will take turns to attack the newly constructed right side of the Swiss team to form fire support for Scamacca and Barella in the middle.
In addition, with the main central defender Calafiori also suspended for this game and left wingback Dimarco basically out of the game due to injury, Spalletti plans to send 25-year-old Torino defender Buongiorno to partner Bastoni as a central defensive combination, and adjust Darmian to left-back, Di Lorenzo will return to the right-back position.
Four players who could start the defence in this game
At the same time, Spalletti also considered letting 23-year-old Juventus midfielder Faggioli replace Jorginho to increase the coverage of midfield runs and limit the play of two Swiss midfielders, Xhaka and Freuler. "Weak Bird" can only look forward to coming off the bench in this game and facing his old rival Sommer again.
The well-known data website OPTA has predicted 8 matches in the first round of knockout rounds, of which the probability of winning and losing the match between Italy and Switzerland is 56.95%-43.04%, which is the closest of the 8 matches, and even surpasses the strong match between France and Belgium. Italy and Switzerland have drawn five of their last six meetings, with the last two meetings ending in 0-0 and 1-1 respectively.
Tonight's Olympic Stadium in Berlin will usher in a close match. Spalletti, who has been criticized by the outside world for his formation, made up his mind to switch formations and rotate as many as 6 players before this crucial battle.