Trent Alexander-Arnold’s winner saw England scrape past Switzerland into Euro 2024 semi-finals with a 5-3 win on penalties in Dusseldorf.
Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Alexander-Arnold dispatched their spot-kicks to wrap up victory, with Manuel Akanji missing Switzerland’s first spot-kick which proved crucial to the result.
Breel Embolo initially put Switzerland from a close-range tap-in in the 75th minute, only for Saka to rifle in England’s equaliser five minutes later.
Speaking to BBC post-match, Alexander-Arnold praised his teammates for their resilience to get into the semi-finals for a second consecutive Euros tournament.
“Incredible, these are the goals that we set for ourselves. Difficult opponent going behind and the team showed a lot of character, belief, heart and spirit out there.
“We knew it was going to be tight. Whatever it takes and no matter what we win – that is all that matters to us.”
England will face the Netherlands on Wednesday 10 July in the concluding semi-final at Westfalenstadion, Dortmund in a 9pm CEST (8pm UK Time) kick-off.
After four turgid performances amidst tactical tinkering, Southgate marked his 100th match in charge of England with a switch to a back three as Ezri Konsa replaced the suspended Marc Guehi.
His players responded with an energetic start but still lacked a cutting edge in their attack with various backpasses to goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, amidst a blocked shot for Kobbie Mainoo and a wide header from Kane in the opening 22 minutes.
England though were more aggressive than Switzerland who struggled to create much quality on the counter-attack throughout the first half.
Switzerland’s Remo Freuler was lucky to not concede a penalty.in the 33rd minute after he handballed Kieran Trippier’s cross with a right-hand deflective soft punch, yet Italian referee – Daniele Orsato turned a blind eye and VAR didn’t overturn his decision.
Neither team were able to find a breakthrough before half-time but Mainoo’s 45th minute shot was deflected, following Saka’s cutback pass to the youngster.
Switzerland responded with a more pressing second half in which Michel Aebischer volleyed over in the 65th minute.
England eventually couldn’t handle the Swiss pressure which told in the 75th minute as Embolo escaped his marker to poke in from John Stones’ deflection of Dan Ndoye’s low cross to put Switzerland ahead.
Southgate subsequently brought on Luke Shaw, Eberechi Eze and Palmer for England in the 78th minute but two minutes later, Rice picked up the ball just outside the box and played across to Saka and the winger calmly cut in from his right to rifle low into the far-left corner to equalise.
England soon found late momentum but Eze wasted a chance to avoid extra-time as he tamely fired wide of the near-left corner.
That momentum continued into extra-time as Rice saw a 95th minute shot blocked before Bellingham saw a shot blocked back out to him just seven minutes later, only for the Real Madrid midfielder to see his follow-up curled shot saved by Yann Sommer.
Harry Kane’s disappointing performance literally ended on the bench after he was shoved into the dugout by Akanji during a 108th challenge for the ball, which saw the England captain replaced by Ivan Toney.
Switzerland almost won the match from a 117th minute corner after Saka blocked Silvan Widmer’s cross, but Xherdan Shaqiri whipped his corner-kick onto the top-right corner of the woodwork as the tie ultimately went to penalties.
Palmer was first up and drew first blood to England with a shot into the left corner, whilst Akanji put Switzerland’s first penalty into Pickford’s arms.
England retained their one-goal advantage to lead 3-2 after the third round of kicks as Bellingham and Saka scored either side of Fabian Schar and Shaqiri’s penalties for Switzerland, whilst Toney dispatched England’s fourth spot-kick to put them on the brink of victory.
Amdouni delayed the Three Lions’ celebrations with a strike down the middle but Alexander-Arnold smashed the final spot kick into the left corner to send England into the semi-finals.
Netherlands will be England’s semi-final opposition after Stefan de Vrij’s header and Mert Muldur’s own-goal turned their tie around to beat Turkey 2-1, having trailed at half-time through Samet Akaydin’s 35th minute header for the Turkish.
Teams
England – Jordan Pickford, Kieran Trippier (Shaw 78′), Ezri Konsa (Palmer 78′), John Stones, Kyle Walker, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo (Eze 78′), Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden (Alexander-Arnold 115′), Harry Kane (Toney 109′)
Substitutes: Luke Shaw, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Aaron Ramsdale, Lewis Dunk, Conor Gallagher Ivan Toney, Anthony Gordon, Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen, Eberechi Eze, Joe Gomez, Dean Henderson, Cole Palmer, Adam Wharton
Switzerland – Yann Sommer, Ricardo Rodriguez, Manuel Akjani, Fabian Schar, Michel Aebischer (Sierro 118′), Remo Freuler (Amdouni 118′), Granit Xhaka, Dan Ndoye (Zakaria 98′), Ruben Vargas (Widmer 64′), Fabian Rieder (Zuber 64′), Breel Embolo (Shaqiri 109′)
Substitutes: Zeki Amdouni, Kwadwo Duah, Nico Elvedi, Ardon Jashari, Gregor Kobel, Yvon Mvogo, Noah Okafor, Xherdan Shaqiri, Vincent Sierro, Renato Steffen, Leonidas Stergiou, Silvan Widmer, Dennis Zakaria, Cedric Zesiger, Steven Zuber
Referee – Daniele Orsato (Italy)
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