course to upset the tournament hosts and qualify as Group A winners, Switzerland were denied victory by a late Germany goal in last Sunday’s final group fixture, but they nonetheless reached the knockout rounds unbeaten.
Dan Ndoye put Die Nati ahead after 28 minutes in Frankfurt, but Niclas Fullkrug’s stoppage-time equaliser left them with five points on the board – enough to finish just below their next-door neighbours, and ahead of both Hungary and Scotland.
Murat Yakin’s men followed an opening win with a less impressive stalemate against Steve Clarke’s side, and after running the Germans close, they have now made the elimination phase at each of the last six major tournaments: that streak dates back to 2014, and the only European nation on a longer such sequence is France, with seven.
However, excluding shootouts, Switzerland have failed to win any of their seven previous last-16 matches at either the Euros or World Cup outright, progressing to the quarter-finals on just one occasion.
Three summers ago, a stirring comeback took favourites France to penalties, in which the Swiss then prevailed, and overcoming that psychological hurdle may stand them in good stead for Saturday’s showdown in the German capital.
Though Switzerland have lost only once in their last 13 European Championship matches, that sole setback was a 3-0 defeat to Italy at Euro 2020 – and since winning a World Cup qualifier in 1993, they are winless in 11 games against the Azzurri across all competitions.
While clearly holding an historical advantage over their next opponents, Italy still bear the scars of two draws between the nations that ultimately saw them miss out on a place at Qatar 2022.
A notorious pair of penalty misses by midfield metronome Jorginho cost La Nazionale dearly in both qualifying matches, and the European champions have never quite recovered their equilibrium since then.
After reaching Euro 2024 by narrowly avoiding a playoff, Italy edged out Albania in their opener, before being put to the sword by a fluent Spain side in Gelsenkirchen; then, Monday night’s dramatic draw with Croatia carried them through Group B by a whisker.
Trailing deep into eight minutes of second-half stoppage time, substitute Mattia Zaccagni stole a precious point with his brilliant last-gasp strike and cruelly broke Croatian hearts in the process.
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As it turned out, Luciano Spalletti’s side would have been eliminated if they had ended up with just three points and a negative goal difference, so Zaccagni’s moment of magic effectively kept their title defence alive.
Notwithstanding their woes in World Cup qualifying, the Azzurri have reached the quarter-finals of every Euros since 2004, and that will now be their minimum aim in what is generally perceived as the weaker half of the draw.
Should they make it past the Swiss, a possible reprise of their Euro 2020 decider versus England could then be on the cards: like Gareth Southgate, Italy’s maverick manager is under increasing pressure from an expectant audience at home and in the media.
Both men will expect their players to step up a gear in the win-or-bust knockout phase, during which Spalletti’s spell as national boss will truly be judged
