Euro 2024: Gareth Southgate Hails England’s Spirited Show Against Switzerland
Southgate hails England's "brilliant" play after penalty shootout win over Switzerland in EURO 2024 quarter-final.
Dusseldorf [Germany]: After England’s win over Switzerland in the quarter-final round of the EURO 2024, Three Lions head coach Gareth Southgate said that his players were ‘brilliant’ and the best they have played in the tournament.
Breel Embolo made the first breakthrough of the match in the 75th minute and gave a lead to the Swiss side. Bukayo Saka scored a late goal in the 80th minute and helped England make a comeback in the match. However, the match went into the penalty shoot after both sides failed to score in the extra time. Later in the game, the Three Lions sealed a 5-3 win over the Swiss side in the penalties.
Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander Arnold were the scorers for England in the spot kicks.
Speaking after the match, Southgate said that the England players had caused a lot of trouble for Switzerland in the quarterfinal match.
The England head coach showered praise on the Swiss players and said that they are hard to defend as their movement is good.
“I just thought the players were brilliant. It’s the best we have played. I thought we caused them a lot of problems. They are a really good side. They are hard to press, they are hard to defend against, their movement is good,” Southgate was quoted by Sky Sports as saying.
He added that one cannot win the tournament by just winning matches but by showing character and resilience.
“To come from behind again and show the character and resilience we did, talking to the players about that, winning tournaments isn’t just about playing well. It’s not just about that. You’ve got to show other attributes to win and we showed them all tonight,” he added.
England will take on Netherlands in the second semi-final match of the tournament at the BVB Stadion Dortmund on Thursday.