Editorial Euro 2024 Football World Football

EURO 2024: Germany to edge out Denmark, and Italy to outlast the Swiss

June 29, 2024
Rohan Chowdhury
Euro R16: SUI vs ITA & DEN vs GER (Images collected from uefa.com)

Switzerland vs Italy

 Switzerland enter their Round-of-16 clash with Italy, the defending champions, undefeated, having started their campaign with a 3-1 win over Hungary followed by 1-1 draws against Scotland and Germany. Michel Aebischer and Kwadwo Duah scored in the opener, with Breel Embolo securing the victory late. Against Scotland, Xherdan Shaqiri equalised after an early deflected goal from Scott McTominay. Switzerland held Germany to a draw, with Dan Ndoye scoring and Yann Sommer making crucial saves before Niclas Fullkrug equalized for Germany.

Italy began with a 2-1 win against Albania but then lost 1-0 to Spain and drew 1-1 with Croatia. Against Albania, Italy responded quickly to an early goal with strikes from Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolò Barella. In the loss to Spain, Gianluigi Donnarumma made several key saves, but a Alvaro Morata header that Riccardo Calafiori put into his own net decided the match. Italy secured a point against Croatia with Mattia Zaccagni’s late goal after Donnarumma saved a Luka Modrić penalty.

Italy qualified for the round of 16 as runners-up in Group B, while Switzerland advanced as runners-up in Group A.

Head-to-Head:

Matches 61

Switzerland wins 8

Italy wins 29

Draws 24

Switzerland goals 68

Italy goals 111

Though the numbers put the Azzurri far ahead, Italy and Switzerland have been evenly matched in recent times. The last three matches between these teams reflect a competitive rivalry, with a 1-1 draw most recently in November 2021. Earlier, in September of the same year, they had another stalemate with a goalless draw. Both were World Cup Qualification matches. The last time these two sides met in this competition was in Rome, where Italy won 3-0 and eventually lifted the trophy, at Euro 2020.

Image: Euro 2024

Players to watch out for

Italy: Donnarumma, the Italian goalkeeper, who was instrumental in multiple games with his heroic saves. He has perhaps been their best player so far. Calafiori has impressed in defence, provided an assist, but will be missed due to suspension. Eyes will be on Juventus forward, Federico Chiesa, who has yet to bridge the gap between potential and performance in the Italian attack.

Switzerland: Whenever Switzerland play, the focus is on Sommer between the posts. Both the goalkeepers will be key for their teams. Granit Xhaka had a tremendous season with Bayer Leverkusen and his leadership qualities were visible with the national side also. Veteran midfielder Shaqiri never fails to impress, and has already scored a goal. Remo Freuler will be key in the Swiss midfield and Embolo, the Monaco forward, will have to be clinical against Italy.

Prediction: 1-1 after full time and Italy qualifying on penalties.

Coach speak

 Luciano Spalletti, Italy coach: “We know we are up against very awkward customers in Switzerland. We have not managed to show all our potential so far, or maybe we only did so for a few moments. We deserved to qualify, even if we needed a last-gasp goal, but we need to take it up a step, especially in terms of personality.” [uefa.com]

Murat Yakin, Switzerland coach: “We have fought very hard to make it here, and these are special games. Year in, year out, with the Switzerland national team, there are some very interesting games. We’re very happy to play against Italy, and I think it will be a very open game. I don’t want to be drawn on who the favourite is. We know about their quality, their tactics and temperament, so it will certainly be special and we hope it can pan out the same way as our recent previous meetings.” [uefa.com]

 

Denmark vs Germany

Germany began their Euro 2024 campaign with a dominant 5-1 victory over Scotland, featuring goals from Florian Wirtz, Kai Havertz, Jamal Musiala, Fullkrug, and Emre Can. They continued their strong performance with a 2-0 win against Hungary, where Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan found the net, and Manuel Neuer made a crucial save.

Denmark, undefeated but without a win, comes into this match on the back of 1-1 draws against Slovenia and England, and a 0-0 stalemate against Serbia. Christian Eriksen has been a standout player, with Jonas Wind and Rasmus Hojlund also a threat in attack. The resilience of the Danish team and their history of close matches against Germany, including three draws in their last four encounters, suggests another tightly contested match is likely. Denmark will look to capitalise on their strong defense and midfield to challenge Germany and potentially pull off an upset.

Germany qualified as the Group A toppers, with 7 points from 3 games. Denmark with 3 points stood in 2nd place in Group C.

Germany vs Scotland (Image: Euro 2024)

Head-to-Head

 Matches 28

Germany wins 15

Denmark wins 8

Draws 5

Germany goals 55

Denmark goals 38

Players to watch out for

 Germany: Musiala and Wirtz. Both the midfielders have already got their names on the score sheet. Though Germany have lacked a proper No. 9 since the days of Mario Gomez and Lukas Podolski, the young brigade can threaten the opponents’ defence through multiple players. Tony Kroos and Gundogan will be key in the German midfield.

Denmark: The veteran Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has impressed under the posts and will be important to tackle the threats from Musiala and Wirtz. Eriksen had already made the headlines after his first goal against Slovenia – a fairytale comeback story after his Euro 2020 collapse. The United midfielder has won the player of the match in two of the three games so far. His forward passes to Hojlund, his United teammate, could pose the biggest threat to the German defence.

Prediction: Germany 2-1 Denmark.

Coach speak

 Julian Nagelsmann, Germany coach: “Denmark are a very well-organised team. There are phases where they are very aggressive defensively but then make great one-touch attacks. They have a lot of experienced players in the squad and a clear structure. It’s a tough opponent, for sure. The Dortmund stadium is usually very loud, and I have experienced it many times as an opposing coach. [uefa.com]

Kasper Hjulmand, Denmark coach: “At the start, I considered Germany one of the favourites, and it’s too bad that they’re playing us tomorrow. They have quality and talent, and expressed themselves very well in the group. But we also have quality and talent, and they’ll have to be very, very good to beat us. We know the fans that travel to Dortmund will do their very best to inspire us. We will be ready for it.” [uefa.com]