In the early morning of June 30, Beijing time, in a match of the 1/8 finals of the European Cup, the defending champion Italian men's football team broke out a big upset and was eliminated by the Swiss men's football team 0-2, becoming the first giant team to be eliminated in this tournament.
In recent years, Italy has been the most amazing European team, winning Euro 2020, but missing the 2018 World Cup and the 2022 World Cup in a row, and now playing Euro 2024 as the defending champions.
In the group stage, Italy's performance was mediocre, narrowly defeating Albania 2-1 in the first round, being suppressed by Spain 0-1 in the second round, and drawing 1-1 with Croatia in the final round, and finishing second in the group with 4 points in 3 rounds.
Now advancing to the quarterfinals, Italy meets old rivals Switzerland, and the two teams met in the group stage of the last European Championship, when Italy beat Switzerland 3-0. As a result, the match was almost one-sided, and Italy, as the defending champions, was pressed by Switzerland for a long time, and the strength of the two teams changed dramatically.
In the 37th minute, Vargas assisted Fruhler's volley to help Switzerland take a 1-0 lead.
In the 47th minute, Switzerland made a steal and advanced to the front, and finally Vargas completed the world wave goal, and the score became 2-0.
Italy, who were in a desperate situation, were unable to equalize in the end due to the lack of attacking methods, and lost to Switzerland again after 31 years, ending their unbeaten streak of 11 games.
With Italy's early exit, the first giant to be eliminated in this European Championship was born, or the defending champion, the level of Italian football has declined significantly, and it is no wonder that it has missed 2 consecutive World Cup finals.
Rather than the emotional loss of the Italian team, the Swiss team celebrated with a revelry, and the European powerhouse has been very consistent in recent years and is now equalling the best record in history.
In the last European Championship, Switzerland reached the last eight stage and achieved their best record, and now they have eliminated the defending champions to reach the quarter-finals, and the performance of this team is amazing.
As one of the richest countries in Europe, Switzerland has a population of only 8.93 million and an annual per capita income of about 90,000 US dollars.