Is Switzerland suddenly the favourite in the European Championship quarter-final against England?

In life, it is sometimes nice to keep things simple. Lists keep things in order, and that also applies to the question of whether the 2-0 win against Italy in the European Championship round of 16 was the biggest victory in the history of the Swiss national football team.

Perhaps it is a question of age and perspective. There is the historically charged 4:2 against Greater Germany at the 1938 World Cup, there is the success against the then world champions France three years ago in the round of 16 of the European Championship, the miraculous 1:0 against the eventual world champions Spain in the World Cup preliminary round in 2010, the brilliant 4:1 against Romania at the 1994 World Cup.

The victory against Italy is somewhere in this series. Perhaps people will still be talking about it enthusiastically in 30 years. The Swiss plan is to achieve even greater feats in the next few days, which will still be talked about 86 years later. First of all in the quarter-final on Saturday in Düsseldorf against England. Judging by the performances at this European Championship, the role of favorite is by no means as clearly distributed as one would expect given the players’ market values ​​according to relevant portals (England: 1.5 billion francs; Switzerland: 280 million francs).

The English have been a complete disappointment at this European Championship so far. They have appeared despondent, without a plan or ideas, and in the round of 16 against Slovakia on Sunday evening they were on the brink of the abyss. Only Jude Bellingham’s overhead kick to make it 1-1 in injury time saved England and brought them to extra time, during which Harry Kane soon made it 2-1.

Bellingham and Kane are worth as much as all Swiss

Equaliser in the 95th minute, winning goal in the 91st minute – things are going wrong for the English team at the moment. The selection has been heavily criticised at home for weeks. The expert and former national player Gary Lineker said in his podcast “The Rest is Football” on Monday that he could not remember ever having seen such a pathetic English team as in their performance against Slovakia: “Two shots on goal in 120 minutes. If the game had lasted sixty seconds less, it would have gone down in history as one of the most embarrassing performances ever.”

In his devastating analysis, Lineker even went so far as to take away the English team’s role as favourites for the quarter-final against Switzerland: “Switzerland are strong, confident and well organised. I don’t think we are the favourites anymore.”

England instead of Slovakia as opponents: From a Swiss perspective, the quarter-finals are on the one hand more attractive, but on the other hand the starting position is completely different – the first qualification for a semi-final at a finals cannot be expected. Defender Manuel Akanji said directly after the game against Italy that he wanted England as opponents. Because his English teammates at Manchester City sometimes belittle Switzerland. “It would be incredible to win against them. And I see good chances for us,” said Akanji.

The courageous thinking of the Swiss, the self-confidence they have developed on and off the pitch, but above all the outstanding performance against Italy – the Swiss are dreaming of their next triumph. After the victory against the 2021 European champions, the duel with the 2021 European Championship finalists awaits, who – despite all the justified malice over their previous European Championship appearances – have enough exceptional talent to be able to decide a match.

The Swiss coaching staff are aware that the individual quality of the English footballers is much higher than that of the Italians. Bellingham and Kane have also been heavily attacked in the media, but they proved against Slovakia that they can always provide a stroke of genius or at least a winning goal. The duo is worth as much as all 26 Swiss players at the European Championship combined.

Gareth Southgate also missed an important penalty

The English know that they are in an unexpected situation in Germany, where they can finally win a trophy again after 58 years and the 1966 World Cup. Slovakia in the round of 16, Switzerland in the quarter-finals, perhaps Austria in the semi-finals – on paper there has probably never been an easier path to the final. In addition, England have only lost three times in 27 international matches against Switzerland, most recently in 1981.

The two encounters between the two nations at the European Championships are particularly memorable. In 1996, Switzerland won the opening match at Wembley Stadium 1:1 – when Kubilay Türkyilmaz converted a penalty shortly before the end. Eight years later, the result in Portugal was 0:3 in the preliminary round. It was the match in which Alex Frei spat at the Englishman Steven Gerrard. Today’s Swiss national coach Murat Yakin was also on the pitch as a central defender.

In those years, the English team had a kind of all-star team, but the goalkeeper position was not excellently filled with David James. The defence consisted of Gary Neville, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole, the midfield consisted of Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes and David Beckham, and Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen were up front. But even this strong generation did not win a title for England. In 2004, the team lost in the quarter-finals to Portugal – once again dramatically on penalties.

There are certainly lists of the most painful penalties in England’s history. The current national coach Gareth Southgate – like Yakin, he was a centre-back – is at the top of the list with his missed penalty in the 1996 European Championship semi-final against Germany. Southgate is currently facing a lot of criticism at home because the English are playing so weakly and uninspired – only the European Championship title can save his honour.

He also coaches in an equally pragmatic manner. The aloof Southgate gets very little out of the collection of highly talented footballers. Judging by the results, however, his era has been quite satisfactory: semi-final at the 2018 World Cup, finalist at Euro 2021, quarter-final at the 2022 World Cup. As unimaginable as that may sound, winning a title this summer would put Southgate high up the list of the most successful English coaches.