ENGLAND DRESSING ROOM AND GARETH SOUTHGATE GIVEN GIFT AS SWISS BOSS CAUSES CONTROVERSY
Switzerland manager Murat Yakin has risked provoking a furious reaction from England by comparing Gareth Southgate's men to Scotland.
Yakin's impressive Swiss side will be the Three Lions' opponents in the Euro 2024 quarter-final on Saturday afternoon. While England needed a dramatic 94th minute overhead kick from Jude Bellingham to level the contest and an extra time header from Harry Kane to overcome underdogs Slovakia, Switzerland emphatically knocked out Italy 2-0 and are still unbeaten at Euro 2024.
Yakin's side are confident going into the weekend's clash in Dusseldorf, despite not boasting a victory over England since 1981. In fact, the former Spartak Moscow and Basel boss was feeling so bold, he used a rare interview outside of his obliged media duties to compare England to Scotland, who exited at the group stages having only recorded one point from a possible nine.
Considering the historic rivalry between the two nations and the amount of talent within the Three Lions' squad, England players will likely be perturbed by the comments. Southgate could use the gift of Yakin's comments as an extra source of motivation, having done something similar before the Slovakia victory, when a member of their team questioned the togetherness and spirit of the Three Lions.
And now, while speaking to Le Matin, the Switzerland boss has added fuel to the fire for Saturday by saying: "If I compare the two teams, the value of the English players is much greater than ours. But it's going to be an open game. They've struggled against teams that are behind, it's never easy. We know England's strengths, but we also know their weaknesses.
"It will be a completely different game, with cultural differences. England have a vertical style of play, but if we push them, we'll make it difficult for them. It's a bit reminiscent of what we saw against Scotland, with those long balls and second balls.
"It makes the match a little unpredictable. We can't train too much for that. We'll just have to find the right solution to deal with them."
Aside from the dying moments of the clash against Slovakia, when Southgate moved Bukayo Saka to left-wing-back and introduced Ivan Toney from the bench to play alongside Kane, the Three Lions have tried to keep the ball on the floor and pass through the lines throughout the tournament. Ironically, it was a long throw-in and the second phase of a set-piece which saw England score both of their goals against the Slovakians.
While the quality is still lacking for the Three Lions, England displayed their determination in the dying moments in the round of 16 victory. Their joyful celebrations and last ditch defending also highlighted the togetherness and camaraderie within the players.
After the match, John Stones revealed that Southgate showed the squad a quote from a member of the Slovakia camp that accused England of lacking togetherness and spirit. The Manchester City defender admitted after the match they were hurt by the comment and were motivated to prove their opponents wrong.
He said: "We got shown a quote from one of their players before saying about our togetherness and our spirit.”
When asked if they were questioning it, Stones said: "Well yeah. I think that gave us a bit of fire in our bellies in that dressing room. We played with our hearts on our sleeves at the end.
"I think the boys off the bench made a huge impact and that’s credit to them because it is not easy, not getting the minutes that they want and having that attitude to come on and put themselves about."
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
2024-07-02T18:55:28Z dg43tfdfdgfd