In the quarterfinals of the European Cup in the early morning of July 7, Beijing time, Switzerland played against England. Switzerland is ranked 19th in the world by FIFA and is a second-rate team in Europe, and England is ranked 5th in the world by FIFA, and is the favorite team with the highest total value in this tournament.
Switzerland's performances in the first four games have been impressive, with a narrow victory over treble winners Germany in the group stage and a clean win over defending champions Italy in the first round of the knockout round, and they are unbeaten in all eight matches in 2024 with four wins and four draws. The team's attacking methods are diverse, and all seven members of the team have scored in this European Championship. However, Switzerland has a poor historical record against England, with 4 draws and 9 losses in the last 13 meetings, and is at an absolute disadvantage, and the last time they beat England was a 2-1 win in the 1981 World Preliminary Tournament.
England are the quintessential team who can only look at the result, not the process, and the first four games have been bumpy but can surprise you at the last minute, as evidenced by the 2-1 win over Slovakia in the first round of the knockout round. The team's attacking form has been up and down, but the defence has been relatively solid, allowing opponents to shoot just nine times per game, conceding a total of 3.3 goals and conceding only 15 shots in the box in four games, the fewest in the knockout rounds. The psychological advantage of losing just one of their 24 games against Switzerland gives the team a lot of confidence.
Switzerland started the game with high pressure but not too much intensity, England could keep the road pushing and open up space on the wings, but the conversion speed could not be improved, and England still struggled to catch the Swiss defensive flaws. Saka on the right continued to control the ball and move towards the middle, but the quality of his passes was not high. The active Menou pressed the playmaking tandem on a number of occasions, and he and Rice were both blocked with powerful volleys at the top of the arc. Kane was closely marked by Akanji and did not have many opportunities to get the ball, and finally fell to the ground in the penalty area and was ignored by the referee.
The Swiss defended well and left no chances, but the transition was blocked, and the back of the ball was made to make mistakes, forcing them forward quickly with long balls, but even then, Embolo took the opportunity to shoot again in the box. England played extra cautiously, with too many ineffective feet in midfield, preferring to lose attacking opportunities rather than risk the ball. Foden on the left was largely invisible, with Saka lacking a tacit understanding with his team-mates on several crosses from the right, and the game was rather dull, with the Three Lions returning to the rhythm of the first four games.
In the second half, Switzerland accelerated the transition and continued to exert pressure, Reid and Vargas repeatedly broke through the cross on the right, Embolo turned and shot in front of the small penalty area and was saved, and then outflanked the middle of the cross and the goal was confiscated, Ebischer volleyed in the middle of the penalty area, Ndoje's shot was blocked, and Switzerland once suppressed England and started a siege.
England failed to solve the problem of poor attacking attack and made fatal mistakes at the back. Schell cut through the defence in the 75th minute with a through ball from the right outside the box, Ndoye's low cross was met by Embolo at the back post and easily pushed the empty net into the net to give Switzerland the lead and England to pay the price for conservatism.
Southgate was in a hurry and immediately brought on Aze, Luke Shaw and Palmer. In the 80th minute, Saka cut inside with the ball on the right side, shot directly from the 45-degree foot, and hit the far post with a close slash and bounced into the goal, Swiss goalkeeper Sommer did not react, and England equalized in only five minutes. England 1-1 Switzerland in regular time, England scored a draw in extra time in two consecutive knockout games, Southgate is really "hard"!
In the 95th minute of extra time, Rice's high-quality shot in the penalty area was saved by Sommer, and Bellingham's push into the far corner of the box was saved by Sommer. Shaqiri's corner shot went straight to the woodwork and Amdouni's powerful shot was saved. In the penalty shootout, Pickford made a successful save in the first round, Palmer, Bellingham, Saka, Toney, and Alexander-Arnold all scored in five rounds, and England won 5-3.
At full-time, England won 6-4 on aggregate with Switzerland, making history by reaching the semi-finals for the first time in two consecutive editions and reaching the semi-finals for the fourth time in their history.