England would no doubt have leapt at the prospect of a quarter-final against Switzerland ahead of this tournament, but two weeks is a long time in football.
While the Swiss have shown their best face at Euro 2024, England are still grasping for coherence, confidence and — Jude Bellingham’s preposterous bicycle kick aside - inspiration.
The Swiss have been one of the finest teams at these Euros, starting with a statement 3-1 win against Hungary before 1-1 draws against Scotland and Germany. They then toppled title holders Italy in the last 16 on Saturday, winning 2-0.
“Switzerland were poor in the qualifying games for this tournament. They conceded a lot of goals, scraped through in second place [behind Romania] and won only one of their last seven games,” says Swiss football expert Craig King.
“The team that has shown up in the last five tournaments has been the one that has chosen to show itself at this Euros. The building blocks have been in place since 2014, across three managers. Without doubt, this squad is capable of reaching the final.”
Since, and including, the 2014 World Cup, Switzerland have shown themselves to be a remarkably consistent tournament team. In that time, they have reached the knockout stages of every major event.
“This is a golden generation right now,” says Lucas Werder, from Swiss newspaper Blick. “They’re 30 or older and at their peak. I spoke to Granit Xhaka yesterday and he said they had gained a lot of confidence not only from the Italy result but the performance, because they dominated.”
This side’s origin story begins in 2014, when Vladimir Petkovic (manager from 2014 to 2021) decided to persist with youngsters. Across his tenure, he made a point of continually selecting a small pool of players, developing a level of tournament experience within his squad almost unrivalled by the time they competed at Euro 2020. There, they knocked out Kylian Mbappe’s France on penalties at the round of 16, only to fall at the quarter-finals to Spain, again on spot-kicks.
Attention now turns to Saturday’s meeting with underwhelming England in Dusseldorf, and a chance to go one better than last time.
Petkovic’s successor, Murat Yakin, will call on that vastly experienced spine of Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji and Newcastle’s Fabian Schar, as well as Remo Freuler, Inter Milan goalkeeper Yann Sommer and left-back Ricardo Rodriguez.
Up against an unsettled England midfield, there could be another chance to dictate the tempo of the game for Xhaka. In the Italy game, he won 100 per cent of his aerial duels, completed 94 of 98 attempted passes and created three chances, the most of anyone in that match. His influence will be key for the Swiss and a potential problem for England should he overcome an adductor problem suffered on Saturday.
Switzerland play a 3-4-2-1 system, with wing-backs pushing high. Right wing-back Silvan Widmer was suspended against Italy but could find joy on his return against England, particularly up against an unnatural left-back if Luke Shaw does not start.
Dan Ndoye, the 23-year-old Manchester United target from Bologna, has been a nightmare for defenders already, and Yakin could restore him to the attack alongside Ruben Vargas and Breel Embolo in a pacey and skilful three-man attack.
And Xherdan Shaqiri will wait patiently in the wings. The former Stoke man is a bit-part player these days, but scored a beauty against the Scots and still offers a goal threat.
“There were doubts about Yakin during qualifying, but he’s come into this tournament and just thrown tactical surprise after tactical surprise,” King says. “I’ve doubted a lot of his selection decisions, but whatever he’s doing, it’s working.
“There’s a quiet confidence that they can beat England, who have amazing players but haven’t been good enough.”
On the eve of facing Italy, midfielder Fabian Rieder said: “We don’t fear any opponents.” If that was true then, it certainly is now.
