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Switzerland is not supposed to do such things. The Swiss have earned a reputation for being to the European Championship what Mexico is to the World Cup – they always qualify from the group stage, but they never get past the round of 16 – except when they beat France on three penalties years ago.
But this time it was different. Switzerland dominated defending champions Italy and earned a 2-0 victory. “It’s not just the victory that counts,” manager Murat Yakin said. “It’s the way we won. That’s a great reward.”
The Swiss had a pre-tournament feeling that this might be the tournament where their record of five consecutive World Cup and Euro knockout stages, matched only by France, could come to an end. But perhaps they will instead belie the other part of that reputation, namely the sense of never really leaving a lasting mark on a tournament. The victory itself is surely their best result of the 21st century, in front of a Berlin crowd dominated by the Swiss red jerseys.
Italy did not seem ready for the challenge of facing Switzerland, which was a big surprise as Yakin’s team played in the same way as they had throughout the group stage. In particular, there was a strong similarity to the way they had beaten Hungary in the first group game, with a lot of rotation on the left.
Yakin suggested that he had actually wanted his team to diversify their offensive threat. “I wanted our game to move a little more to the right,” he said. “To take more advantage of both flanks, not just the left. This makes our game plan more unpredictable.
But from the outside, everything seemed to lean to the left.
On paper, Switzerland use a three-man defense, a system Yakin surprisingly opted for after a disappointing qualifying campaign, which raised doubts about his job security. But the three-man defense on paper becomes something different.
Ricardo Rodriguez, the former left back renowned for his crossing abilities, does not remain left center back but instead makes sudden overlapping runs. This allows Michel Aebischer, who is establishing himself as one of the stars of the tournament, at 27, to move from full-back to that of bonus number 10. And this movement means that Ruben Vargas, the left attacker, can stay wide or dart inside in turn, always surprising his opponent with his movement. Italy right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo had perhaps the toughest game of his career in the 1-0 group stage defeat to Spain, bamboozled by the Spanish winger’s footwork Nico Williams. This experience wasn’t much better, as various players buzzed around him — note Rodriguez, Aebichser and Vargas, all in the space he was supposed to defend.
Rodriguez is not the only one to have created a surprise by overflowing on the left side. Such was the Swiss threat on this side that the first goal came when Dan Ndoye, the Swiss right winger, suddenly appeared on the left side to combine with Vargas. This run distracted Di Lorenzo and his defensive colleague Alessandro Bastoni, opening a passing lane from Vargas to Remo Freuler, who burst into the box and finished with a deflection.
Vargas scored the second, which seemed to settle the game, just 27 seconds into the second half. Again, it came from a combination from the left, this time with Aebischer in his usual position on the outside, Granit Xhaka pushing forward into the channel and Vargas completing the triangle with an inside-left move. His shot, curled beautifully into the far corner, was textbook.
“Just before the second half, Granit said to me: ‘Ruben, please score a goal’,” he said. “When I got the ball, I remembered it. »
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Italy didn’t have much to offer. It was their fourth game of the tournament, and they conceded the first goal of all games. They have become one of the most confusing teams in international football. It was strange enough that they won Euro 2020 and failed to qualify for both World Cups. Now, their team simply lacks individual quality. Only four key players from their European Championship success three years ago played a major role here. Goalkeeper Gigi Donnarumma was excellent again. The aforementioned Di Lorenzo endured a difficult tournament. Midfielder Nico Barella now plays a different, much deeper role, while winger Federico Chiesa has not been the same since missing a year with a serious knee injury. You look at this team and wonder where the stars are, especially in attack.
Aebischer puts on a remarkable tournament (ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)
For almost a century, Italy has had a reputation for defensive football, but the irony is that it has always produced top-class strikers; the narrative was that it was frustrating that they weren’t making the most of it. Today, Italy have gradually moved to a more attacking style, but have they produced a world-class striker since the generation that won the World Cup in 2006?
Manager Luciano Spalletti gave a long, rambling and downbeat press conference, in which he admitted his team were 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 because of quality, but in terms of tempo you lose that intensity and can’t maintain it for 90 minutes, it’s only natural that you then have to mix things up and bring physical,” he said. “We saw in these one-on-one duels that we struggled and that made it difficult to recover the ball.”
Physical aspects are always an important part of matches, and Italy have long had a hang-up over their apparent lack of physicality. This is often the reason why she prefers to play defensively, to avoid exposing herself to individual duels. But Switzerland were superior in terms of technical quality, imagination and combination play in the final third. “All the other coaches have managed 20 matches, some more, I have only managed ten,” Spalletti protested, with some justification.
But the Italian investigation can wait, especially since Spalletti is due to give another press conference tomorrow. It concerns Switzerland. “We have to savour the excitement we have created,” Yakin said. “We have achieved this through blood, sweat and tears, not through luck.” The Swiss will face either England or Slovakia in the next round and, based on performances so far, Switzerland will be favourites against either.
(Top image: Swiss players celebrate their deserved victory against Italy. Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)