In the early morning of June 30, the first knockout match of Euro 2024 began. As a result, Italy lost 0-2 to Switzerland in the first round of knockouts, and the defending champions of the European Championship became the first team to be eliminated from the round of 16! Switzerland, on the other hand, became the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals with a resounding win and are likely to meet England in their next fixture.
Italy was beaten 2-0 by Switzerland According to Visual China
Italy have played against Switzerland a number of times in recent years, and the two teams met in the group stage of the last European Championship, which resulted in a 3-0 victory over Switzerland. However, compared with the squad at that time, Chiellini, Lucatelli, and Immobile who scored goals were not in the list of this year's Italian team, and Italian players such as Bonucci, Spinazzola, Berardi, and Insigne, who started three years ago, were also not called up by Spalletti. In the European group stage of the 2022 World Preliminaries, the Swiss team drew with Italy home and away, beating the Blues to win the first place in the group and directly qualify for the World Cup, while the Italian team was forced to play the play-offs, but lost to North Macedonia and missed Qatar.
In the group stage of this European Championship, the performance of the Italian team was relatively disappointing, and Spalletti's technical and tactical play and personnel were also widely criticized by the Italian media and fans. The Swiss team advanced to the round of 16 with an unbeaten record with 1 win and 2 draws, especially in the final round of the group stage, they almost beat the host German team, who relied on Phil Kruger's equalizing goal to snatch the top spot from the Swiss team, but the Swiss team, who finished second in the group, were lucky to avoid the "death half" of the strong teams.
The Swiss squad currently has six players playing in Serie A, including Bologna's 'Swiss trio' Ndoye, Freuler and Ebecher, while goalkeeper Sommer is from Inter, striker Okafor plays for AC Milan and defender Rodriguez plays in Torino. Coupled with Shaqiri, Denis Zakaria, Widmer and others who used to play for Serie A teams, this Swiss team is very familiar with the Italian team.
These two defensively based teams must have been cautious when they met in the knockout rounds, which made the game a bit dull for a long time. The Italian team put on a defensive counterattack posture, while the Swiss team was also patient in the case of possession and was not in a hurry to attack. It didn't take until the 24th minute for the first shot of the game – Embolo was on the end of a one-on-one cross from midfield, but his effort into the far corner was blocked sideways by Donnarumma.
In the 37th minute, the Swiss team, which was in the advantage of the field, finally broke the deadlock, Vargas took the ball on the left side and observed the midfielder Freuler inserted in the back row and sent a precise cross, Freuler stopped and shot in the penalty area to break through the door guarded by Donnarumma, the midfielder who helped Bologna qualify for the Champions League this season, really gave the Italian team a fatal blow!
Freuler scores
In first-half stoppage time, Switzerland had a chance to extend their lead, Reid took a high-quality free-kick from the right side of the penalty area, and Donnarumma struggled to save the ball to the post to avoid Italy falling behind by two goals in the first half.
However, Italy's second goal did not last long, and just over 20 seconds into the second half after the break, Italy suffered a blow to the head when Vargas suddenly fired a right-footed shot into the far corner on the left side of the penalty area.
Vargas shoots home from distance
After falling behind 0-2, the Italian team was also completely anxious, but they did not have many opportunities to counterattack with rough feet, especially under the strict defensive system of the Swiss team, the Italian team's midfield could not be effectively organized, resulting in the team being useless most of the time, and finally had to make a long pass to find the high school striker Scamacca in the penalty area, but there was no substantive effect. In the end, Italy came back and lost 2-0, while Switzerland advanced to the quarter-finals and will face the winner of England and Slovakia in their next game.
Red Star News reporter Jiang Shan
Edited by Ou Peng
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