England was almost deprived of the Euro semi-final by the ex-coach of Spartak. It's happening again!

The England team prevailed over the Swiss in the penalty shootout and made it to the semi-finals of the European Football Championship, which is entering the home stretch in Germany. Sports is about the next success of the founders of football, who, despite the excellent selection of performers, continue to experience huge problems with teams that are far from the status of candidates for Euro 2024 gold.
Euro 202406 July 2024 • starts at 19:00Finished (P)< img src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/954f046b446dfdf7861d7a05a8be0801.png" />EnglandEngland2 : 15:3SwitzerlandSwitzerland
80‎'‎ • Bukayo Saka (Declan Rice)
121‎'‎ • Col Palmer (P)121‎'‎ • Jude Bellingham (P)121‎'‎ • Bukayo Saka (P)121‎'‎ • Ivan Toney (P)121‎'‎ • Trent Alexander-Arnold (P)
75‎'‎ • Brel Embolo121‎'‎ • Fabian Scher (P)121‎'‎ • Xherdan Shaqiri (P)121‎'‎ • Zeki Amdouni (P)
See all goals
False price tag? The English are in front tournament they became first in two major ratings at once.

• Many experts, including employees of the statistical portal Opta, named Gareth Southgate's players as the main favorites of the Euro.
• This is the most expensive team of the tournament: it is estimated at 1.52 billion euros (France is “cheaper” by €300 million). Which is not surprising, given the fact that the English application includes five players worth one hundred million or more. The most expensive player is Jude Bellingham (€180 million), followed by Phil Foden (150), Bukayo Saka (140), Declan Rice (120) and Harry Kane (100).

Can you imagine what expectations British fans had before the championship?

And now what the fans got. In the group, the founders of football barely defeated the Serbs and played faceless draws with the Danes and Slovenes. It seemed that the giant was sleeping and would definitely wake up by the playoffs to start destroying everything around. We woke up, of course… But only in the 95th minute of the match against Slovakia, when the shameful departure from Euro 2024 became very close. Bellingham and Kane eventually led England to the quarter-finals, but what hard work did it take for the mercilessly criticized favorite.

As we see, Slovakia almost punished the British for their lack of ideas — their job could have been completed by the attractive Swiss team (14th most expensive at the Euro; only €281 million). The team of former Spartak coach Murat Yakin emerged undefeated from the quartet with Germany, Hungary and Scotland in order to destroy the Italians in the 1/8 finals and send the reigning European champions to book their next tickets to Rome.

Triumph of injustice The British, as expected, chose the game number one, and the Swiss were only happy about this. The nominal guests lined up in defense, and neither the top scorer of the founders of football, Kane, nor the Champions League winner Bellingham could approach Jan Sommer's goal. Perhaps the most active in the first 45 minutes was Saka, but what good were his initiatives? The teams went into the break without making a single shot on target during the period.

This arrangement obviously played into the hands of the Swiss. At Euro 2020 they had already created a sensation by eliminating France after a penalty shootout, so holding out for 120 minutes today didn’t seem like a failed plan.

Then it was more fun. Switzerland perked up and, not seeing a threat, began to attack more and more often. Before his substitution, Ruben Vargas burned out the right flank, but he watched his team’s first goal from the bench. In the 75th minute, Fabian Scher found Dan Ndoye, who fired a strong cross into the penalty area, right at the far post. The ball flew past the defender and goalkeeper — Brel Embolo missed the empty goal.
Southgate immediately made three substitutions. And in the 80th minute, Switzerland faltered: Saka moved from the right corner of the penalty area and upset Sommer with a billiard hit into the far corner (the ball flew in, bouncing off the goal post). Both teams scored with their first shots on target!

The Swiss, unlike the Slovaks, did not sag. And they dragged England into the swamp of the “football lottery”. Although in the remaining (main) time they had a chance to snatch victory, the crush in the penalty area lacked the most important thing — an accurate shot into the net past Jordan Pickford. In the extra 30 minutes, Switzerland also looked better than the favorites. Yes, the highlight of the first extra time was Rice's shot and Sommer's magnificent save, which made the arena in Dusseldorf gasp. But in the second, Silvan Widmer forgave Pickford for leaving the goal, and the experienced Xherdan Shaqiri curled a corner… into the crossbar.

But in the penalty shootout — a cursed affair for the English since 1996 — Switzerland's luck ran out. Today she was no worse than the British stars, even more interesting… Only the latter did not miss from the point, and for some reason Manuel Akanji chose a short run-up, and even shot weakly, at a height convenient for the goalkeeper. Such mistakes are not forgiven in the Euro quarter-finals.

Southgate's anniversary was savedThe head coach of the England national team today played his 100th match at the head of the national team. And it could have been the specialist’s last: elimination at the quarter-final stage would definitely have been considered a failure by the British bosses. And if we add the fans’ dislike for Southgate, we get the perfect excuse to fire the coach. Perhaps this will happen if they lose in the semi-finals, where on July 10 the founders of football will meet the winner of the not-so-threatening pairing of the Netherlands and Turkey.
In the meantime, England is rejoicing. She has not lost to the Swiss for 43 years and, following the silver at Euro 2020, guarantees herself medals at the current championship of the Old World.