Switzerland was better than Italy in every respect – they would not be afraid of England or Slovakia

Switzerland shouldn’t do things like this. The Swiss have developed a similar reputation for the European Championship as Mexico has for the World Cup – they always qualify from the group stage, but they never progress beyond the first knockout round – except when they have won on penalties. France was defeated after the shootout. year ago.

But this was different. Here, Switzerland thoroughly defeated the holders, Italy, and fully deserved a 2–0 victory. Their manager Murat Yakin said, “It wasn’t like we won.” “That was the way we won. It was extremely rewarding.”

There were suspicions ahead of the tournament in Switzerland that this could be the tournament when their record of five consecutive knockout stage qualifications at World Cups and Euros – matched only by France – could end. Instead, they’ll probably decline the other half of the prestige, meaning they never really make a lasting impact on a tournament. In front of a Berlin crowd that was dominated by the red Swiss shirts, this victory is certainly their best result of the 21st century.

It seemed as if Italy were not up to the challenge of playing Switzerland, which was extremely surprising as Yakin’s team played almost exactly as they had throughout the group stage. In particular, there was a strong similarity to how they beat Hungary in the first group game, with a lot of rotation to the left.

Yakin suggested that he really wanted his side to diversify his side’s attacking threat. “I wanted our game to go down a little more,” he said. “To make more of both sides – not just the left side. This makes our gameplan more unpredictable.

But from outside it all looked to the left.

On paper Switzerland uses a three-man defence, a system which Yakin surprisingly changed after a disappointing qualifying campaign, raising doubts about his job security. But on paper the three-man defense falls apart a bit.

Former left-back Ricardo Rodríguez, famous for his crossing ability, does not remain as a left-sided centre-back, instead making sudden overlapping runs. This allows Michel Aebischer, who at the age of 27 has established himself as one of the tournament’s breakout stars, to move inside from wing-back to become the bonus number 10. And that movement means that Ruben Vargas, a left-sided attacker, can stay wide or alternately dart inside, always surprising his opponent with his movements. Italy right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo played perhaps the toughest game of his career in the 1–0 defeat to Spain in the group stage, as he was caught off guard by the footwork of Spain winger Nico Williams. The experience wasn’t much better, as different players were moving around him – note Rodriguez, Abacher and Vargas were all in the position he had to defend.

It wasn’t just Rodriguez who provided the surprise of overlapping on the left. Such was Switzerland’s threat down that side, the first goal came when Switzerland’s right winger Dan Ndoye suddenly crossed to the left to combine with Vargas. That run distracted Di Lorenzo and his defensive partner Alessandro Bastoni, opening up a passing lane from Vargas to Remo Fraular, who burst into the box and finished via a deflection.

Vargas scored the second goal, which seemed to tie the game just 27 seconds into the second half. Again it came from a combination down the left, this time with Aebischer in his regular position on the outside, Granit Xhaka moving into the channel, and Vargas completing the triangle with movement to the inside-left position. His shot, which was beautifully turned into the far corner, was textbook.

“Just before the second half, Granit said to me, ‘Ruben, please score a goal'”, he said. “I remembered that when I got the ball.”

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Italy offered little. It was his fourth game of the tournament – ​​he conceded his first goal in all. They have become one of the most surprising teams in international football. It was quite strange that they won Euro 2020 and either side of it failed to qualify for the World Cup. Now his side lacks individual quality. Only four key players from the European Championship success three years ago played a major role here. Goalkeeper Gigi Donnarumma was again excellent. The aforementioned Di Lorenzo has faced a tough tournament. Midfielder Nico Barella is now playing in a different, much deeper role, while winger Federico Chiesa is not the same after missing a year with a serious knee injury. You look at this team and wonder where the star quality is, especially in attack.

Abishar is hosting an extraordinary tournament (ODD ANDERSON/AFP via Getty Images)

For almost a century, Italy has had a reputation for defensive football, but the irony was that they always produced top-class attackers; The narrative was that it was disappointing that he did not make the most of them. Now Italy have gradually shifted to a more attacking style, but have they produced any world-class attackers since the generation that won the World Cup in 2006?

Manager Luciano Spalletti gave a long, rumor-filled and frustrating press conference, when he admitted his team was not good enough, but surprisingly focused on his team’s lack of physicality on the hottest day of the tournament. .

“We need players with more physicality,” he said. “When you think you can play through quality, but then in terms of pace you lose that intensity and maintaining it for 90 minutes. If you can’t keep up, then it’s natural that then you need to mix things up and bring physicality,” he said. “We saw in those one-on-one duels that we struggled and that made it difficult to win the ball back.”

Physical components are always a major part of matches, and in Italy there has long been a skepticism about their apparent lack of physicality – this is often cited as a reason why they avoid exposure to individual duels. Prefers to play defensively to survive. But in the final third Switzerland were superior in terms of technical quality, imagination and combination play. Spalletti protested, with some justification, “All the other coaches had 20 games in charge, some of them had more – I only had ten.”

But the Italian investigation can wait, especially with Spalletti due to hold another press conference tomorrow. This was about Switzerland. “We need to enjoy the excitement we’ve created,” Yakin said. “We did it with blood, sweat and tears, luckily not.” They will face either England or Slovakia in the next round and based on their performances so far, Switzerland will start as favorites against either of them.

(Top image: Switzerland players celebrate their deserved win over Italy. Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)