France Dumped Out.
We thought we had an entertaining game with Spain v Croatia but this is another game that shocked and rocked the world with France getting dumped at the hands of the Swiss. On paper, everyone expected France to coast through but football is unpredictable and it proved to be, yet again.
France started on the front foot and Varane should have given France the lead in the 2nd minute when his awful header went over the bar after a brilliant delivery from the corner kick. It was Switzerland who got the first goal of the game in the 15th minute when Elvedi provided a lovely delivery for Seferovic to head home with ease after shaking off Lenglet to power the header home. France tried to respond and Rabiot almost picked out Benzema in the box but the goalkeeper got a touch to knock it off him. Griezmann also had an audacious effort go wide in the 47th minute.
The Swiss should have further stretched their lead when Embolo flashed the ball across the face of the goal but there was no one there to tap home the ball. Shortly after, Switzerland got another chance to go ahead when Pavard's tackle was reviewed by the VAR and it proved to be a careless one. Rodriguez; who has had horror showings when penalties are concerned was called to step up and take the penalty but Hugo Lloris brilliantly saved it. 3 minutes after, in the 57th minute, France drew level.
Benzema came close before his goal as he missed narrowly but not this time around. Mbappe played him in and he managed to control the ball despite the ball being behind him to poke it home. It was a great piece of individual brilliance and just 2 minutes after, Mbappe found Griezmann whose initial lob was saved but the ball came to Benzema who had the easiest of goals on this one as he headed it home. France got ahead for the first time in the game after producing two goals in quick succession.
In the 68th minute, Switzerland almost produced an own goal when the goalkeeper was not on the line but Widmer headed the ball backwards and both were lucky to watch the ball go out for a corner kick.
In the 75th minute, Paul Lebile Pogba produced his moment of magic with a contender for the goal of the tournament when he picked the ball and produced a curler into the top right-hand corner of the post. What a goal it was and it was pure genius.
Switzerland started their comeback in the 81st minute when Mbabu found Seferovic with a lovely cross for him to head home his second goal of the game leaving Hugo Lloris with no chance of saving it. They thought they had completed the comeback when Gavranovic scored in the 84th minute but it was ruled out for offside. 6 minutes after, the comeback was completed as the same man was found by Xhaka and he left his marker for dead before powering home a lovely shot into the bottom left corner of the post.
Coman should have won it for France in the 94th minute when his effort, after a great control in the box came off the crossbar. He was quite unlucky there. Switzerland forced an extra time and just 7 minutes into the extra time, Mbabu produced an electric run into the box but his attempt was cut out.
Mbappe, who has been anonymous in this tournament was played through by Paul Pogba but he agonizingly shot wide right inside the box. Giroud had another chance to win it late for his team after coming on to replace Benzema but his shot in the 29th minute was saved by the goalkeeper.
The game moved on to penalties after nothing separated the two sides after 30 minutes.
Both set of players scored all their penalties and Mbappe was expected to score to take the penalties to 5-5 but Sommer brilliantly parried his effort away and saved it to give his side the win over the tournament favourite; France. Switzerland dumped France out of the tournament and went on to establish a clash with Spain; who also had it all to do against Croatia earlier in the day.
Fixture: Spain v Switzerland.
Thank you for your time.
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this match was really surprising one. After 3-1 i thought the game was over. nice play from the swiss coming back into the game and eventually winning. lots of moral lessons to learn in this game. congratulations Switzerland
It showed their mental strength to comeback from earlier disappointment. I was impressed.
Same here. Hope they carry on with that mentality in their next game should they concede first. It would be better if they don't crack first though :-)
So many surprises to come...
It was really unfortunate to see how the favorite of this Euro2020 was out of the tournament on penalties. The reigning world champion was unlucky this time. But in the group stages they gave their all and we must recognize their effort.
Very true, they all battled hard.