At 0:00 a.m. on July 7, the third quarter-final of Euro 2024 will be between England, the favorite to win the championship, and Switzerland, ranked 19th in the world. The two teams eliminated Slovenia and Italy in the quarter-finals respectively to advance to the quarterfinals, and for the "Three Lions", who have many stars, if they can cross the Swiss hurdle, they will have a good chance of advancing to the European Championship final for the second time in a row.
England is currently ranked 5th in the world, and the whole team is worth as much as 1.52 billion euros, ranking first among all 24 participating teams in this European Cup, Kane, Bellingham, Foden, Saka, Rice and others are worth "100 million yuan", and Bellingham, who has just celebrated his 21st birthday, is tied for the world's first value with 180 million euros.
However, England's performance at this European Championship has been questioned, and manager Gareth Southgate, who has been in charge of the team for more than seven years, has continued to be criticised for his selection, tactical play and on-the-spot command. In particular, when it comes to the question of whether Bellingham can coexist with Foden, "Southgate" has never found a suitable solution.
In the quarter-finals against Slovenia, who were ranked 52 places lower than them in the world rankings, England did not equalize until the fifth minute of stoppage time when Bellingham equalized with a brilliant barb and dragged the game into extra time, and finally Kane received an assist from Ivan Toney to head the winning goal. The "crushing game" is simply played into a "mutual stabbing game", and the fans' dissatisfaction with the "South Gate" is obviously justified.
England's opponent in this game, Switzerland, although only ranked 19th in the world, is not an easy opponent to deal with. Although they do not have superstars, Xhaka, Ndoye, Embolo, Freuler, Akanji, Sommer and others are all practical players, with abundant physical energy and pressing style of play, which is a difficult bone for every strong team. Their ability to beat defending champions Italy 2-0 in the 1/8 final was a testament to that.
However, in terms of head-to-head results, England have played Switzerland 13 times since 1981, with 10 wins and three draws. Among them, in the last 9 meetings, the England team has 8 wins and 1 draw. In the last three meetings, England defeated Switzerland 1-0, 6-5 on penalties and 2-1 respectively.
England centre-back Guehi has been suspended for accumulating yellow cards and Southgate is still unsure whether to replace him with Koonsa, Dunk or Joe Gomez. At left-back, although Luke Shaw has participated in the team's training and is ready to play, it is still unknown how the 28-year-old Manchester United left-back, who has not played for four and a half months, is still in shape. "Southgate" is likely to continue to use Kieran Trippier as the starting left-back.
In the midfield position, it is expected that England will still field the double midfield combination of Maynoo and Rice, and the front four will continue to be Kane, Bellingham, Foden and Saka. And how to balance the ball between Bellingham and Foden, how to distribute the positions between Bellingham, Foden and Saka, and avoid Kane being alone in the attack, is still the primary problem that Southgate needs to face in this game.
England also received a piece of good news before the game, although Bellingham made "indecent actions" in the last game against Slovenia, UEFA officials have achieved a fine of 30,000 euros + 1 game suspension with a suspended execution. That is, the England number 10 can play against Switzerland.
As the current captain of the Three Lions, Kane has not won a major trophy in his 13-year career since his debut from Leyton East in 2011. Even after transferring to Bayern Munich, the "giant" of the Bundesliga last season, Kane failed to win one of the Bundesliga, Champions League and German Cup.
If England can successfully eliminate Switzerland in this game to advance to the semi-finals, whether the opponent is the Netherlands or Turkey, the "Three Lions" will have a better chance of winning. If all goes well, they will be able to progress to the final again after the last European Championship, and Kane will have a chance to end his embarrassing 13-year career without a title.