Euros 2024 started perfectly for the Hosts, Germany. With a huge win over Scotland in their opening game followed by a comfortable 2-0 victory over the Hungarians, Germany cemented their place as the outright favourites to win the competition. But in their 3rd group match against the mighty Swiss, Germany showed signs of vulnerability for the first time in the competition.
Going up against a well-rounded Swiss team, Die-Mannschaft thought they took the lead in the 17th minute when Andrich scored a beauty with a strike from outside the box, keeping up with the theme of this tournament. But a VAR check revealed that Jamal Musiala had fouled a Swiss defender in the buildup to the goal. With Germany’s goal being disallowed and the scoreline being back to 0-0, Freuler put in a dangerous ball across the face of the goal which found Dan Ndoye’s foot before crashing into the roof of Manuel Neuer’s net. Just 11 minutes after Germany’s goal was disallowed, the Swiss had their lead. Now it was up to them to keep it.
Akanji-Schär Star as Füllkrug Scores in Stoppage Time
With the Germans chasing the Swiss lead for the majority of the game, it was all going to come down to Switzerland’s defensive stability and compactness. And up until the 92nd minute, the Swiss defence showed solidarity and robustness to a great extent. The two main men, Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji and Newcastle United’s Fabian Schär made sure every German goalscoring opportunity was shut out convincingly.
In the 70th minute of the match, Florian Wirtz did a beautiful turn to get away from his man on the right flank and provided a precise cutback into the box. With Joshua Kimmich receiving the ball, he took a snapshot into the Swiss goal which could’ve seen Germany equalize. But that did not happen as Akanji made a last-ditch heroic block to save Switzerland. Germany still did come close to equalising, with some of the best chances to score falling to Kai Havertz. Who seems to have gone back into his phase of not performing well enough. Havertz had 3 chances where he could’ve put the ball into the back of the net. 1 of them was a free header while he shot another one 15 rows back into the stands.
With Germany not being able to solve the Akanji-Schär equation, Nagelsmann decided to bring Niklas Füllkrug into the fray. The German substitute in the end became the decisive figure in the match. With only 3 minutes of stoppage time left to go, David Raum, another German substitute received a ball on the left flank and with bodies circling in the far corner, he put in a lofted cross into the area. Using his physicality to his advantage, Füllkrug reached the ball first and headed it across Ian Sommer’s net to equalize for Germany in the 11th hour.
While Switzerland might have not won the match in the end, their efforts must be recognized. With their draw against Germany, they now have an unbeaten run against the Germans in their last 4 outings. They further qualified for the Round of 16 along with Germany.
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