On the so-called ‘easier’ side of the European Championships quarter-final stage, England face Switzerland while Turkey and the Netherlands go head-to-head.
England and Switzerland will battle in the Dusseldorf Arena for a place in the semi-final.
England current form
England have, somehow, made it to this stage of the competition despite being very, very far from their best.
They have been poor in most of the matches so far, including in the 90 minutes against Slovakia last time out.
Gareth Southgate’s men had to rely on a moment of magic from Jude Bellingham deep into injury time to draw that game in 90 minutes, while Harry Kane popped up with a header to win the tie in extra time.
England have been criticised for their collective performances, but they keep on progressing.
Switzerland current form
Switzerland, meanwhile, have become a favourite of the neutrals due to some of their sharp attacking play.
They have certainly earned their place, as in the last 16 stage they eliminated defending champions Italy with a 2-0 victory, with Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas scoring the goals.
There will be one definite change from Southgate as Marc Guehi is suspended after picking up a yellow card versus Slovakia.
Ezri Konsa will likely come as his replacement.
The England manager has ignored outside chat demanding changes to largely keep to the same starting XI save for the spot alongside Declan Rice in midfield. However, there is chatter that he may switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation for this one.
That could see Trent Alexander-Arnold come it at right wing-back, with Bukayo Saka asked to do a job on the left.
Switzerland had an injury scare this week as Granit Xhaka’s fitness has constantly been assessed due to an abductor problem, but it seems like the Leverkusen man will be good to go on Saturday.
Silvan Widmer is available again after his suspension.
Scoreline Prediction
We keep waiting for England to click and it hasn’t happened, so Switzerland will fancy themselves at getting at least…
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Author : editors@footballcritic.com (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-07-06 06:45:00
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