After a victory in their first game, Switzerland will be looking to build on their early success at UEFA Euro 2024 as they face Scotland, a team trying to bounce back from a tournament-opening disaster.
Kwadwo Duah opened the scoring in the 12th minute, Michel Aebischer and Breel Embolo also found the net as Switzerland earned a 3-1 victory over Hungary in their first Group A contest.
“It was important that we won our first game,” said Switzerland coach Murat Yakin. “It brings more self-confidence in our game. But I wasn’t so happy with the second half. We have to play better in the next game.”
Though they hung on for the win, including scoring a third marker in stoppage time, Switzerland allowed Hungary a lot of the ball in the second half, including conceding their only goal of the game in the 66th minute to Barnabas Varga.
Granit Xhaka was one of the main reasons they were able to hang on for the victory. The captain was named man of the match for his performance in the midfield for Switzerland.
“We know the quality that Scotland have,” Xhaka said, looking ahead to their second match. “Big players who play for big teams. But we know the first match is always special, especially for Germany in Munich. We know the quality Scotland have, though, and I hope we’ll see a good game.”
Scotland will enter the contest aiming for a better result after everything that could go wrong did in their opening 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Germany.
The tournament hosts scored at the 10-minute mark and didn’t let up until the final whistle
Scotland was forced to play the entire second half of the rout with 10 men after Ryan Porteous was sent off for a dangerous tackle in the penalty area on German captain Ilkay Gundogan.
Porteous received a two-match ban from UEFA on Monday.
“We believe in ourselves, there’s no danger of [us giving up],” Scotland head coach Steve Clarke said. “We know it was a bad night [against Germany]. We have to accept all the criticism that comes our way and then we have to put it right. To be in football, you have to be very resilient.”
Scotland was able to pick up a consolation marker in the 87th minute when Scott McKenna’s free kick was deflected into the net by German defender Antonio Rudiger for an own goal.
“We know we are capable of much more than we showed the other night, much, much more,” said Scotland midfielder John McGinn. “Also selfishly, as a team, we’ve got to prove it to ourselves rather than to anyone else.”
The teams have not met since Switzerland beat Scotland 3-1 in an international friendly in March of 2006.
Scotland leads the overall series 8-3 with five matches drawn.