EURO 2024: Highlights of England's semi-final run

England team "likes heavy"

As usual, England started slowly despite having a much better squad than their opponents. Not only that, they were also pressed by Switzerland and created dangerous chances towards goalkeeper Jordan Pickford's goal. One of those led to Breel Embolo's goal in the 75th minute.

After conceding the goal, England woke up a bit. Bukayo Saka's moment of brilliance brought the Three Lions back to the starting line and dragged the match into 2 extra periods.

However, in the 2 extra halves, the England team continued to play with a lack of energy and almost conceded goals if it were not for the luck and excellence of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. The excellence of this Everton goalkeeper was also the factor that helped coach Gareth Southgate's team win the nerve-wracking 11m penalty shootout.

With this hard-fought victory, England reached the semi-finals for the second consecutive time and will have a notable confrontation with the Netherlands in the semi-finals.

England team breaks penalty shootout curse?

In the Euro 2020 final, Rashford, Sancho and Saka's missed penalty kicks in the 11m shootout caused the England team to miss out on the European championship.

Furthermore, the England team was also eliminated in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012, quarter-finals of Euro 2004 and semi-finals of Euro 1996 (coach Gareth Southgate was the one who missed the decisive kick). At the World Cup finals, the English team also had no luck on penalties when they lost in the quarter-finals of the World Cup 2006, the round of 16 of the World Cup 1998 and the semi-finals of the World Cup 1990. It can be said that the unlucky penalty shootouts mostly brought sadness to the Three Lions.

However, in last night's match, the England players were able to break this curse by successfully executing 100% of their penalty kicks to help their team reach the semi-finals. This will help them be more confident in the upcoming difficult matches.

Goodbye to the Swiss "dark horse"

Considered one of the dark horses of this year's tournament. With a scientific and cohesive playing style, coach Murat Yakin's students have brought many difficulties to the big guys at Euro 2024.

First came the win-like draw against hosts Germany in the group stage. Then came the convincing 2-0 win over reigning champions Italy in the round of 16.

In last night's match, if Xherdan Shaqiri's corner kick had been a little luckier, if Zeki Amdouni's shot had been a little more dangerous, the ones who would have had to pack their bags and go home would have been the England team.

Losing in the penalty shootout was a pity for the Swiss team. But with what they have shown in this year's tournament, coach Murat Yakin's team can leave the tournament with their heads held high.