ENTERTAINING Switzerland Euro 2024 Tactic

Switzerland has qualified to the Euro 2024 quarter finals and did so by eliminating the title holders, Italy, in an emphatic fashion.

The Swiss qualified in the round of 16 after finishing 2nd in their group consisting of Germany, Hungary and Scotland.

They won against Hungary, drew against Scotland and were seconds away from providing their first upset in this tournament. So, Italy, you had your warning.

Surprisingly, though, the Swiss national team was in an unrest state before the tournament, as they lost a lot of points in games they should have won in the qualifiers.

Romania, Belarus, Kosovo took advantage from a wasteful Switzerland.

But Murat Yakin and his team seem to have completed their redemption arc, playing fine football so far at the Euro 2024 and deservedly qualifying in the quarter finals stage.

A 3-4-2-1 or 3-6-1 formation was used by the Swiss in three of their four games played in the tournament.

A sweeper keeper in goal, with a defend duty. Yann Sommer is not the type of keeper to rush out of his goal, so the defend duty suits him better.

Three at the back, with two wide center backs one on defend and one on support. And one central defender on defend duty.

Manuel Akanji was a pivot in the defence, covering when needed. While his teammates Fabian Schar and Ricardo Rodriguez helped the possession game. Ricardo Rodriguez more than his teammate.

In front of them, a group of four players made of a winger on attack, a box-to-box midfielder, a mezzala on support and an inverted winger on attack.

Dan Ndoye has ventured forward quite often so far, but he stuck close to the touchline more than his left side teammate.

But, for the times he did tuck inside, a cut inside with the ball player instructions was chosen.

Remo Freuler and Granit Xhaka proved to be difficult to be assigned a role in this tactic.

They could be defensive midfielders; in which case a Segundo volante and a roaming playmaker may be chosen.

But Switzerland did not seem to play with defensive midfielders, at least in my opinion. As they press their opponents quite often and in high positions.

So to best mimic Remo Freuler’s and Granit Xhaka’s movements from a central midfielder area, box-to-box midfielder and mezzala roles were chosen.

Get further forward player instruction for Remo Freuler.

And Michel Aebischer is an inverted winger, as his movement was towards the middle of the pitch, creating space for Ricardo Rodriguez and covering for Ruben Vargas. Stay wider for him.

And the front three are an attacking midfielder on support duty, a trequartista and a pressing forward.

Fabian Rieder is the passer, the creator. His main priority is to provide the attacking players with good passes and creating goalscoring opportunities.

I debated long and hard what role Ruben Vargas may be assigned. And I chose trequartista as in the game, with a stay wider player instruction, the player starts from a winger position and cuts inside either with the ball or moving into channels.

The same way Ruben Vargas does for Switzerland.

Shadow striker may also work here, but as I said, the trequartista acts more like a winger when positioned in the wide area.

And Breel Embolo is a pressing forward. Nagging the defenders, trying to beat the offside trap and choosing the best channels to run into.

As mentality, positive. No doubt about it, Switzerland have played with a positive approach irrespective if the opponent was Hungary, Germany or Italy.

In possession, fairly wide attacking width, play out of defence, shorter passing directness and a slightly higher tempo.

Run at defence and be more disciplined. Whenever Switzerland picked up the ball, they were very aggressive in their attack, trying to find the best and fastest routes towards the goal.

Be more disciplined was chosen as in my opinion, Switzerland attacked as a unit, using the force of the group rather than using the individual skills of certain players.

In transition, counter-press, counter and distribute ball to the defence through short kicks.

Out of possession, high press and higher defensive line. Trigger press more often and trap outside. Switzerland seemed to try and be compact when defending, covering inside areas and pushing their opponents out wide.

Schoki may have been better than gelato in the round of 16, but Switzerland must make sure they keep their focus and maintain the same level of football, if they want to go even further in the tournament.