By

Eniola Olatunji

The Three Lions of England perfected a majestic stroll into Euro 24 semifinals scoring all her five penalty kicks leaving Switzerland stranded with only three scored kicks ending a victorious 5-3 win after 1-1 at full time. 

England coach strategized with some obvious changes in the last moment aimed at clinching victory in the kicks. Palmer, Bellingham, Saka, Toney and Alexander scored in that order but Emanuel Akanji who was a thorn in the flesh of Harry Keane and eventually ensured Kane went out to injury induced by him, lost the first kick. Schar, Shaqiri and Amdouni scored but England had won.

Cover Photo: Bukayo Saka after scoring his penalty kick. Saka of Arsenal FC was also the PLAYER OF THE MATCH.

Stones had gotten Breel Embolo who simply tapped in the opener beating Pickford in goal for England in the 75th but Nigeria’s ebony Black Saka who beautifully switched places playing in front, at midfield and warding off the Switz moves in defence received a pass from Rice, dribbled two Switz defenders and equalized in the 80th minute for the Mekur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf to roar in ecstasy of a good game.

Statistically the game was almost even but distinction came in the foul calls which were 8-13 in favor of England; the blocked shot which England did better 8-1; a slim 4-3 corner kicks for England with Switzerland having 6 shots off target  to England’s 2 showing lack of marksmanship. 

The men of the Cross, Switzerland will carry their cross back home while The Three Lions of England will wait in their Enclosure to meet the winner of the Netherlands versus Turkey 4th Quarterfinal which is ongoing right now on Wednesday semifinals at Dortmund.

To get to the quarterfinal, Switzerland was 2nd in Group A with 5 points scoring 5 goals and conceding 3 goals. She beat Hungary 3-1; played 1-1 with Scotland and had another 1-1 with Germany before the 2-0 stunner that ousted Defending Champions Italy in the Round of 16 games.

England topped Group C with 5 points scoring a paltry 2 goals and conceded one goal. She piped Serbia by a lone goal; played 1-1 with Denmark and goalless with Slovenia before defeating Slovakia in the Round of 16 by 2-1. 

Switzerland has never reached the semifinal stage of the championship neither has the country ever beaten the Three Lions of England in any completion. There were 8 wins for England only one draw and no victory for Switzerland in their soccer encounters.

In 2004 at the Euro Group B encounter, England won 3-0; in a friendly played in 2008 England won 2-0; In the Euro Group G qualifier of 2010, England won 3-1 in Switzerland and in the 2nd leg that ended2-2 was the only draw the Switz earned against England. In the 2015 Euro qualifier Group England subdued Switz 2-0 in 2014 and in 2015 repeated the 2-0 victory at Wembley.

On 11th September 2018 a friendly match ended 1-0 in favor of England; In the Uefa league playoff of 9th June 2019 the Switz played goalless at full time but England won 6-5 on penalties. At a certain Baltic Cup competition, of 26th March 2022 England won 2-1.

England herself seems to be semifinal specialists dropping off two times and never reaching the final. In 1968 when Bronze medal still counted, England beat the Soviet Union 2-0 and in 1996 when only semifinal losers were recognized, England lost 5-6 to Germany at Wembley.

This is the 17th edition of the European Championship that has now seen 105 goals scored with 2,422,629 attendances as at today (Attendance for today’s England vs Switzerland just included was 46,907). There are four joint top scorers in Georges Mikautadze of Georgia; Jamal Musiala of Germany, Cody Gakpo of Netherlands and Ivan Schranz of Slovakia all having three goals each.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line.
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