France’s change to a back three hasn’t worked out for them yet. In a way their line-up has been too deferential to Switzerland who know how to play this way far better. However, no team has won more matches when trailing at half-time at the Euros than France. They’ve done it four times before. Can they do it a fifth time?
Well, this wasn’t in the script. Seferovic’s strong header has given Switzerland the half-time lead in a game that France haven’t really turned up to yet. The Swiss have been typically tidy, while France seem a little distracted. Deschamps’ team have shown just a flicker of what they’re capable of so far.
45′ + 3′ HALF-TIME: FRANCE 0-1 SWITZERLAND
45′ + 2′ Benzema’s half-hearted attempt from the left of the box is blocked. Seconds later, Embolo stays down after a clash of heads with Rabiot. Thankfully the striker soon gets to his feet. That’ll be that for now.
45′ + 1′ Embolo barrels into the box and causes a spot of chaos before France hurriedly clear.
45′ There’ll be two minutes added onto the end of this first half. Switzerland have been largely comfortable.
44′ Embolo motors through the middle and Kimpembe brings him down. The Borussia Monchengladbach may be 24 years old now but he’s still brimming with potential.
43′ Griezmann’s lovely flick sends Mbappe scampering inside from the right. Freuler’s canny nudge sends Mbappe off-balance and his shot swerving high and wide.
41′ Switzerland bide their time before Xhaka bypasses Kante to find Embolo in the box. Embolo’s heavy touch allows Varane to come across and punt the ball out for a corner. From it Akanji heads well over.
40′ Embolo finds his strike partner Seferovic down the left. Seferovic has no support though so Switzerland keep the ball instead. The Swiss are looking very composed.
38′ There’s an impromptu water break as the officials deal with a pitch invader. France soon resume their latest spell on the ball.
36′ France get a corner off Zuber but achieve nothing with it. Seferovic’s goal is currently the game’s only shot on target.
34′ Pogba brings down Embolo in the centre of the pitch as Switzerland look to get forward on the counter-attack. The referee elects not to book Pogba this time.
32′ Elvedi joins Varane in the book for a poor foul. France are not finding life easy at the moment.
31′ Embolo gets on his head on the end of Shaqiri’s free-kick but not enough of it to prevent his header from bouncing wide to the right.
R. Varane
Yellow Card
30′ Varane receives the game’s first yellow card for that mistimed challenge on Zuber.
29′ Zuber takes on Varane down Switzerland’s left but can’t shake the Real Madrid man off. The Swiss circulate the ball for a while and Zuber comes at Varane again, this time tempting Varane into cutting him down.
27′ Mbappe’s high ball in from the left is given short shrift by the Swiss defence. Rabiot goes for goal from distance and Switzerland’s goalkeeper Sommer is delighted to watch the shot fizz just wide of his left-hand post.
26′ Mbappe smashes the free-kick into Switzerland’s wall and skims a shot well wide on the half-volley on the follow-up.
25′ Rabiot knocks the ball up into Freuler’s midriff but the referee gives France a free-kick for handball. Switzerland won’t be happy if France manage to score from this.
23′ Rabiot tries to find Benzema but doesn’t get the power on the pass right and Switzerland intercept. The Swiss are frustrating the French so far.
21′ The offside flag goes up against Mbappe as he mistimes his run onto Pogba’s throughball. Mbappe’s reaction is a slightly petulant one.
19′ France shouldn’t worry too much yet although they are looking shonky defensively. They’ve conceded the first goal in three consecutive matches at Euro 2020 now.
17′ France look to make amends straight away as Griezmann’s brought down by Freuler in Switzerland’s half. Griezmann sends the free-kick into the penalty area but Switzerland manage to deal with it
S. Zuber
Assist
16′ Zuber wasted no time in getting the ball to Seferovic there and the Benfica striker attacked it with aplomb. France have work to do!
H. Seferović
Goal
15′ GOAL! FRANCE 0-1 SWITZERLAND! The ball rebounds to Zuber who floats a cross in from the left of the box. Seferovic drifts into the box and rises to nod it easily past Lloris!
15′ Seferovic turns and shoots from outside the box only to find a France defender in his path. It doesn’t matter though because…
13′ France’s latest attack breaks down as a pass intended for Mbappe down their left goes awry. Mbappe knows it’s a lost cause and doesn’t even try to reach it.
11′ Switzerland haven’t looked overawed by the task in front of them so far but they’ve got to avoid making big errors. Embolo hands France the ball in midfield but his defenders bail him out as Mbappe comes running, blocking his pass to Benzema.
9′ Switzerland retain possession from the corner and work the ball right to Freuler who runs just to the edge of the box. Freuler’s cross drops over the head of Pavard at the far post as well as everyone else.
8′ Embolo’s intercepted run to the byline earns Switzerland a second corner that France also clear. It’s been a fairly even start between these two sides.
7′ Mbappe twists this way and that with the ball to the left of the box, eventually fizzing a cross in. France get a corner out of it but no joy from said corner.
5′ Benzema darts into space down the left-hand channel and cuts back from the byline, only for a Switzerland defender to cut it out. Switzerland can’t clear it totally though and block Pogba’s opportunistic strike from the centre of the box.
3′ Switzerland force a corner of their own off Pavard as Shaqiri’s cross is blocked. Rodriguez’s corner doesn’t cause France much trouble.
2′ France start the game brightly, immediately forcing a corner down their left. Varane nods over from Griezmann’s corner when he should at least be hitting the target.
1′ Switzerland’s talisman Shaqiri gets this game underway! France are wearing their usual blue home colours. Switzerland will play in all-white.
The two teams are out on the pitch in Bucharest. Switzerland sing their national anthem and France rustle up a stirring rendition of La Marseillaise.
This is the fifth meeting between France and Switzerland in a major competition since 2004, but the first in the knockout rounds. France are unbeaten against the Swiss in their last seven meetings, their longest ever unbeaten run against their neighbours, although four of the last five meetings between the pair have ended level. This could be a tight affair.
Deschamps switches France to a back three, making three changes to the team from their 2-2 draw with Portugal. Pavard returns while Rabiot starts at left wing-back with Lucas Digne out injured. Dependable as ever, Switzerland are unchanged from their win over Turkey. Shaqiri grabbed two goals in that game to become the Swiss’ all-time top scorer in major tournaments.
SUBS: Yvon Mvogo, Denis Zakaria, Edimilson Fernandes, Kevin Mbabu, Admir Mehmedi, Christian Fassnacht, Mario Gavranovic, Djibril Sow, Fabian Schar, Gregor Kobel, Ruben Vargas, Loris Benito.
SWITZERLAND (3-4-1-2): Yann Sommer; Nico Elvedi, Manuel Akanji, Ricardo Rodriguez; Silvan Widmer, Remo Freuler, Granit Xhaka (c), Steven Zuber; Xherdan Shaqiri; Haris Seferovic, Breel Embolo.
SUBS: Wissam Ben Yedder, Steve Mandanda, Kingsley Coman, Leo Dubois, Lucas Hernandez, Corentin Tolisso, Mike Maignan, Kurt Zouma, Olivier Giroud, Thomas Lemar, Marcus Thuram, Moussa Sissoko.
FRANCE (3-4-1-2): Hugo Lloris (c); Raphael Varane, Clement Lenglet, Presnel Kimpembe; Benjamin Pavard, Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Adrien Rabiot; Antoine Griezmann; Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappe.
Switzerland secured third place in Group A last time out by dispatching an underwhelming Turkey 3-1. Vladimir Petkovic’s team have reached the knockout stage in four consecutive tournaments now but were knocked out straight away in the last three. They’ll need to defeat France here if they want to shake their tag of being a good side but not a great one.
After topping the group of death Group F, world champions France face neighbours Switzerland in this first knockout round. Didier Deschamps’ men will be confident of making it through to the next round of Euro 2020, having not lost a competitive match for over two years now. If Germany and Portugal couldn’t defeat the French, Switzerland really shouldn’t either.
Hello! Welcome to our live text commentary of this UEFA Euro 2020 round of 16 clash between France and Switzerland at National Arena, Bucharest.
N. Elvedi
Yellow Card