Euro 2024 quarter-final: England 1 Switzerland 1 (England win 5-3 on penalties)
Gareth Southgate extended his lead as the greatest English managerial mastermind of his generation, leading his country into the European Championships semi-finals for the second successive tournament.
The manager ran down to dance in front of the England fans as they sang Sweet Caroline and Freed from Desire after their penalty shootout victory over Switzerland.
The global coaching hive mind has over the years deconstructed and reverse-engineered the football styles of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, but what Southgate is doing defies analysis or explanation. Nobody can really explain how he is doing this, and yet - again - England are there.
Switzerland had outplayed England for long periods, they edged the balance of the chances, if they had won they would have felt they deserved it. But in the end a moment of inspiration from Bukayo Saka cancelled out the good work Switzerland had done in a commanding second half, and left them regretting their failure to be more ruthless with the chances they did create.
With Spain weakened by suspensions and injuries after their victory over Germany, it now looks as though England and France, the two dark forces of football anti-matter, may be moving inexorably towards a final showdown in Berlin.
This was a better performance from England than they had delivered in the previous four matches, but not by much. The speculation that England would change system proved to be more or less accurate but the changes had a distinctive Southgateian twist.
He did go with a 3-4-2-1, but instead of a left-footer like Bukayo Saka or Luke Shaw on the left, he went again with Kieran Trippier, who has been performing there with no distinction all tournament. Saka remained on the right, but in a deeper starting position, with Phil Foden playing inside-right.
Southgate’s thinking was apparently that he needed a more defensively solid player on the left to confront Switzerland’s fast and powerful wing-back, Dan Ndoye. The plan didn’t seem to be working nine minutes in, when Ndoye ran past Trippier as though he wasn’t there.
But the Swiss did not succeed in setting up that one-on-one very often. The first half was played at a tempo that screamed Saturday 12:30pm Premier League kick-off.
The Swiss were not moving with the same enterprise that had overrun Italy. It’s not that they were unwilling to take risks exactly - at one point goalkeeper Yann Sommer chipped the ball over the onrushing Phil Foden in his own six yard box - but the risks were not in areas of the pitch likely to hurt England. When Switzerland played it into midfield after Sommer measured Foden’s height, Rice mopped it up.
Rice gradually emerged as the dominant player in midfield, snuffing out Switzerland’s attacks at source. On 16 minutes he read Akanji’s pass out of defence and snapped in to win the ball and set his team away on the attack, Mainoo’s dangerous-looking shot from 20 yards ultimately deflecting off one of the players in the way.
Still, England weren’t creating much and there were howls of anger from their fans when a short corner routine ended in a retreat all the way to Jordan Pickford.
England began to dominate possession more towards the end of the half but only looked dangerous when Saka was running at Aebischer on the right.
On 50 minutes we finally had the first shot on target when a quick Switzerland combination down the left reached Embolo in the box but he decided to shoot weakly rather than set up an arriving team-mate. Then Walker’s sloppy throw was seized by the Swiss and Rodriguez crossed to the back post where Embolo’s header was blocked by Konsa.
Switzerland, their fans making all the noise, were playing with more confidence in the second half, and their goal, when it finally came, was beautifully worked.
Schär drifted inside from the Swiss right, and, with England evidently expecting a pass to Widmer outside, instead picked out a clever run by Ndoye, who stole in behind the ball-watching Jude Bellingham. Ndoye’s low cross went past John Stones to Embolo who bundled it in at the back post.
There were 15 minutes to go and England still hadn’t had a shot on target. Southgate, having refused to make proactive changes while his team were visibly shrinking away throughout the second half, immediately made three reactive changes: Mainoo, Trippier, Konsa off, Palmer, Eze and the long-awaited Shaw on.
A chaotic downfall looked on the cards. Instead, almost immediately, England were rescued by their best performer of the day, Bukayo Saka.
As the Arsenal forward received the ball on the right his club team-mate Declan Rice made a run beyond him, dragging some Swiss defenders with him. Saka moved along the edge of the box and cracked a beautiful shot off the far post and in.
Back on level terms, England immediately reverted from all-out attack to the formation they had been playing all game: Eze left wing-back, Shaw left centre-back, Palmer in the front three with Kane and Saka, Bellingham and Rice in midfield. We thus had the remarkable situation whereby England waited weeks for Shaw to be fit, Shaw was now finally on the pitch, and somehow they still had a right-footed left wing-back.
Some flurries from Palmer aside, England failed to create a chance in extra time while the Swiss several times came close to grabbing a winner, notably when Shaqiri cracked the joint of near post and bar with an inswinging corner in the 119th minute.
In the end it went to penalties. Cole Palmer was up first for England and sent Sommer the wrong way. Akanji stepped up for Switzerland, Pickford delaying the kick with spoiling antics. The low shot to the right was weak and the English ‘keeper saved. Bellingham was second for England. Four big steps back, four small steps to the left, then a low shot to the corner with Sommer guessing wrong.
Schär for Switzerland had to wait for Pickford to get back in his goal after the goalkeeper saw something that required his attention elsewhere. The Swiss centre-back calmly sent him the wrong way. Saka for England squeezed his shot just inside the right post. Sommer hadn’t guessed right yet. Shaqiri stepped up, ignoring the spectacle of Pickford hiking up his shorts. Pickford again guessed right but Shaqiri’s shot beat him with power.
Next Ivan Toney, a renowned penalty specialist. His short run up belied the power with which he struck the ball into the bottom left, beating Sommer’s dive. Zeki Amdouni had to score. He slotted it into the centre. Now the midfield misfit Trent Alexander-Arnold had the chance to win it for England. A moment rich with narrative possibility. He smashed it into the left top corner. England march on to Wednesday night’s semi-final in Dortmund.
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