It’s never simple with England and Saturday night in Dusseldorf was no different. For the second time in a week The Three Lions were all but out of the European Championships, until a hero rose to secure Gareth Southgate’s side consecutive Euro semi-finals.
Breel Embolo thought he had sent Switzerland to the semi-final of the competition when he gave the Swiss a 75th-minute lead. But Bukayo Saka had other ideas, and levelled the scoring five minutes later with a stunning goal to force extra-time.
The half an hour that followed was cagey, and, on balance, Switzerland probably should have nicked it.
But England stuck in there and managed to get to their old foe – the penalty shootout.
The faithful were nervous wrecks, although the fantastic five on the pitch were anything but. The penalties that followed were cool, calm and collected as England coasted through the shootout with five exquisite efforts from 12 yards.
After a rollercoaster evening in Dusseldorf, here are the player ratings.
Jordan Pickford – 9
Didn’t have much to do in the game, but whenever he was called into action he didn’t have any issues. Couldn’t have done anything about the goal.
Heroics in the penalty shoot-out making a tremendous save to send England to successive European Championship semi-finals.
Ezri Konsa – 8
Konsa stepped into his first start at a major tournament with great ease. He was composed from the start and bailed England out of trouble on numerous occasions. The Aston Villa centre-back made countless crucial blocks. An assured defensive performance.
John Stones – 4
Shocking error for the goal. Out of character, but dismal defending. The ball was driven across the box, Stones dangled his leg and nudged it straight into the path of Embolo, who tapped it into an empty net.
Kyle Walker – 5
A little shaky. Lost his balance in the fifth minute and allowed Switzerland in. Konsa came to his recovery. Not his finest performance. Some questions over his defending for Switzerland’s goal, he lost the runner allowing the ball to be played across the box – poor.
Kieran Trippier – 6
Solid all-round performance. Nothing spectacular, but did his job. All being well with Luke Shaw, you’d think it’s probably his last start of the tournament.
Declan Rice – 6.5
As expected with a player of his calibre, Rice was composed in midfield, strong on the ball and worked well with Mainoo. Pivotal in the equaliser – created the space for Saka to get his shot away.
Kobbie Mainoo – 7
Was by far the best player on the pitch in the first half. He oozes class, silky with the ball, worked hard defensively and frequently won the ball in high areas. Mainoo didn’t stop working. A top performance, unfortunate to be pulled off, but Southgate had to throw everything at the game when going 1-0 down.
Bukayo Saka – 10
Saka was England’s most threatening asset in the opening 45 minutes. He had Michel Aebischer‘s number from the start, and constantly beat him on the right. The 22-year-old was the only attacking outlet who showed any real promise in the first 45.
The thought was that if England were to score, he’d play a big part. Lo and behold, the Arsenal man stepped up and kept the nation’s European Championship hopes alive, scoring a stunning equaliser, cutting inside and unleashing an effort into the bottom corner from just outside the box.
He rounded off a fantastic individual performance by scoring England’s third in the shootout to give them a 3-1 lead.
Phil Foden – 8
Performed well. Was much better centrally. He was everywhere. Defensively excellent, and tried to pull the strings going forward. Never stopped working.
Jude Bellingham – 6
Showed flashes, but wasn’t consistently brilliant. Carried the ball well. Scored the second penalty. Played his part.
Harry Kane – 4
Awful. The ball was constantly bouncing off him, Saka played some outrageous cutbacks, yet the number nine was nowhere to be seen.
Did play a couple of decent crossfield passes in midfield. But it was plain to see England were missing their number nine, who didn’t look up to the task.
Substitutes
Eberechi Eze – 6
Linked up well with Palmer at times. Drove at the Swiss defence. Won a few free-kicks. Played without fear and tried to have a positive impact on the game.
Cole Palmer – 7
As with Eze, tried to influence the game as much as possible in his 12-minute cameo. Opened the scoring for England in the penalty shootout with a stunning effort from 12 yards.
Luke Shaw – 7
Exactly what England have been missing at left-back/left wing-back.
Ivan Toney – 7
What a penalty. He dispatched England’s fourth and sent them well on their way. It was never in doubt, really.
Came on with five minutes to play. Scored the winning penalty. What a cameo.
Yann Sommer – 6.5
Made an incredible save to deny Declan Rice giving England the lead in the first half of extra time. Got across well and tipped it around the post. Was rarely called into action. Unable to get anywhere near England’s five fantastic penalties.
A decent showing. Didn’t make too many mistakes, made big clearances and often had to bail Aebischer out of trouble.
Manuel Akanji – 5
Was pretty solid throughout. Recovered for Aebischer on a few occasions. Was constantly cutting England’s crosses out. Cleared his lines well. The cynic would criticise a couple of loose passess.
Unfortunately, for the Manchester City man he missed the penalty that saw Switzerland crash out of Euro 2024.
Fabian Schar – 5
Numerous silly shots at goal when he had better options. Sloppy defensively. Booked after bringing Bellingham down in the first half. Poor.
On a positive, he scored in the shootout.
Michel Aebischer – 3
Shocking performance. Saka bullied him all evening. Was constantly getting beaten. Couldn’t handle the Englishman at all. Managed to stay on until the 118th minute.
Granit Xhaka – 8
Very solid performance in midfield. Covered a lot of ground. Executed his role well. Much like many of the Swiss, he was unlucky to be on the losing side.
Remo Freuler – 5
Didn’t bring loads to the party, lost 60 per cent of his duels but won both of his tackles.
Fabian Rieder (subbed off 63) – 5.5
Didn’t do much wrong, but failed to have any impact on the game. Wasn’t surprising that he was pulled off.
Ruben Vargas (subbed off 63) – 5.5
Didn’t do too much in the first half barring one sensational ball. Started to prove a nuisance after the break as Switzerland began to get some joy on the right, albeit England’s central defence were standing strong to all the balls across their box. Set-up Embolo with a few half chances, but the striker couldn’t finish.
Breel Embolo – 6
Finished off the move that gave Switzerland the lead, and for five minutes he thought he had sent his country to the semi-finals of the European Championships. However, he was too wasteful throughout the affair. He had a bucket load of chances that he couldn’t dispatch. If he could have shown a little more composure and quality in the final third, it would have been a different result.
Dan Ndoye – 6
A mixed performance, played a tempting ball across the box to put Switzerland in front – albeit it was aided by Stones. Embarrassing shots at times. Passed the ball directly out of play. Often broke well, dribbled well, but it followed with poor decisions.
Substitutes
Silvan Widmer – 6
Made a few clearances. Didn’t offer loads.
Steven Zuber – 5
Failed to create much. Managed just 30 touches. He had little to no impact.
Denis Zakaria – 5
Didn’t really have the impact that Yakin would have hoped for when calling him on in the 98th minute.
Xherdan Shaqiri – 5
Scored his penalty.
Vincent Sierro – N/A
Was introduced in the 118th minute.
Zeki Amdouni – N/A
As with Sierro, he was introduced in the 118th minute. Scored in the shootout.