If there is one team that has disappointed fans the most in this European Championship, then England, ranked fifth in the world and worth 1.5 billion euros, must be on the list. As the Three Lions, which ranked first in both the odds list and the value list, stumbled in the group stage, and even relied on Bellingham's final draw and Kane's extra-time goal to barely advance to the top 8 in the knockout round against Slovakia, England conceded the first goal again, and Saka was the savior of the world; Akanji missed a penalty shootout, and England hit all five penalties to advance to the semifinals with an aggregate score of 6:4.
World No.19 Switzerland had a lot of impressive performances, coming close to upsetting Germany in the final round of the group stage and sending defending champions Italy home in the knockout rounds. In this game, Southgate rarely changed the formation 3-4-2-1: Walker, Stones, and Konsa built a back three, and Rice and Menou were at the back; Saka went to the left to form a flank with Kieran Trippier; Kane acted as a lone arrow, with Bellingham and Foden lying in ambush behind him. On the Swiss side, Xhaka, Sommer, Akanji, Vargas and Freuler all started.
After the start of the game, England did not unexpectedly continue to play sluggishly, except for Saka after 4 successful dribbles on the wing, Foden, Kane and others in the front court did not get any chance to perform; Bellingham produced a yellow card and also used a freehand turn to get rid of the top tackle, but England were little of a threat in attack under Switzerland's defensive system. This directly contributed to the fact that the first half of the game was very uneventful, with only seven attempts on goal and none of them on target.
After returning from the second half, Switzerland even kept England firmly in the half at one point; In the 68th minute, the Swiss attack advanced into the penalty area, and Kane returned to the penalty area to help the defense to clear the siege; In the 75th minute, the patient penetration of the Swiss front finally broke through the England defense, Schell passed through the right ribs, Ndoye inserted the bottom cross diagonally, Stones made a mistake in front of the goal, and Embolo shot into the net with a two-point shovel, 0:1!
In the 80th minute, Rice made a direct pass, Saka held the ball and decisively cut inside to hit the world wave, Sommer was caught off guard, and the ball bounced into the net, 1:1! The last game was Bellingham, this time it was Saka, England once again equalized the score with the ability of their stars; The goal was England's only shot on target in regulation time, and the third last-eight game went into extra-time.
In the 94th minute, Rice also shot a long shot from the edge of the penalty area, and this time Sommer did not hesitate to bounce directly to the ground and make a world-class save; In the 116th minute, Shaqiri took a corner kick and spun towards the goal, but fortunately, Pickford concentrated and reached out to block, and the ball hit the post and bounced; Two minutes later, Amdouni's long-range shot was powerful and Pickford kept it intact; Then the two sides did not unexpectedly enter the penalty shootout to decide the winner.
Akanji's penalty was saved by Pickford in the first round; Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold missed shots as England won 6-4 on penalties and stormed into the semi-finals. Switzerland was unfortunately eliminated and missed the best result in team history.