Has Switzerland stopped being Switzerland? Has it abandoned the idea of a small team that is content with having made it through one group stage, one round? Will England finally be England? Or will it continue to be a pipe dream of a favourite transferred by football history?
All those questions will be answered in Düsseldorfstarting at 6 p.m. this Saturday. Or not. The result will issue a verdict, and it may not be conclusive.
The fact is that Switzerland is repeating its access to the quarter-finals for the second time, the highest point in its footballing career that is progressively rising: round of 16 in 2016, quarter-finals in 2020… The semi-final would be the next stop and in front of them is the static, still, and never better said, England.
Fabian Rieder looks at the camera during Switzerland’s final training session. / Peter Klauzer / Efe
Winning footballers
This Switzerland has a winning gene on the field, perhaps temporary, circumstantial, that several of its players have acquired, some of them finishing the season of their lives: the goalkeeper Yann Sommer He has defended the goals of Bayern Munich and Inter Milan and has won two consecutive league titles; Manuel AkanjiManchester City centre-back has celebrated six titles in two years.
Ahead of them he captains them Granit Xhaka, the brains of Bayer Leverkusen’s German double, and they are accompanied by guys like Michel Aebischer, Remo Freuler and Dan Ndoye who have put Bologna in the Champions League, without forgetting Xherdan Shaqiri, scorer of great goals in the twilight years of the American Chicago Fire.
Goalkeeper Yann Sommer, in a specific exercise during the last Swiss session. / Peter Klauzer / Efe
Insufficient succession of names and clubs, however, that can combat the relationship that England presents, With three City players, for example (Kyle Walker, John Stones and Phil Foden), two from Arsenal (Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka), the charismatic Jude Bellingham, double champion of the League and the Champions League, the eternal Harry Kane… With the national team they have as many titles as the Swiss: zero.
Kwadwo Duah receives a slap from his Swiss teammates. / Peter Klauzer / Efe
A question of ambition
“I hope that we do not put limits on ourselves, not only on ourselves as players, but on the whole country. I hope that this mentality of thinking that certain limits cannot be crossed has disappeared,” the striker wished. Steven Zuber, another of the thirty-somethings in the Swiss team (32), acknowledging the existence of a secular absence of pretensions in the team.
Once Italy has been eliminated with sufficient skill, with the initiative to eliminate it, with ambition, England should not be frightened. And even less so the one that is struggling in Germany and, lacking positive virtues, clings to the instinct of survival.
“I hope we don’t put limits on ourselves; I hope this mentality of thinking that certain limits cannot be crossed has disappeared.”
John Stones throws a dart at a journalist’s game, at the press conference he gave in Blakenheim. / Thanassis Stavrakis / Efe
A team pineapple
“The Slovakia game was a turning point for us emotionally,” said John Stones, announcing the beneficial effects of the agonising victory, with Bellingham equalising in the last minute of added time and Kane in the first minute of extra time.
Stones held up a picture of the entire squad on the pitch celebrating Bellingham’s goal, including substitutes and support staff. “It shows that unity and togetherness as a team. When you’ve done those things, you believe you can do better and you know you can do it again,” argued the defender, who will have a new partner.
Pickford, euphoric, with the distant support of his teammates after the 1-1 draw with Slovakia. / Friedemann Vogel / Efe
“The Slovakia game was a turning point for us emotionally. Southgate has changed the culture of the team”
New center
With Marc Guéhi suspended, manager Gareth Southgate has to choose another centre-back. Aston Villa centre-back Ezri Konsa is the leading candidate. The technician weighs up, on the sidelines, tweak the system of play to transform the defensive quartet into the formula of three centre-backs and two wing-backs, which would entail the entry of Trent Alexander-Arnold into the team.
Stones, like other players, wanted to safeguard Southgate’s image, which has been vilified by critics for the poor form of the national team. “The culture within the team has changed”said the defender in the absence of other footballing arguments.
Southgate gets into a car at Blankenhain, the headquarters of the England training camp. / La Presse / AP
Improvement, despite everything
England have reached the quarter-finals in the last four competitions. The weight of history – they last lost to Switzerland in 1981 – and expectations weigh on the weak Southgate. The manager was also defended by his colleague and rival, Murat Yakin, who was on the tightrope in the qualifying phase: “The only thing we can do as coaches is focus on football, not on what we read in the newspapers.”
Southgate to coach on Saturday the 100th match for England, of which he has won 60. Switzerland will decide whether his time has come.
2024-07-05 08:23:20
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