In view of the round of 16 of the European Championships, the Swiss coach charges his team: “We are not favourites, but we are confident and we will play it”.
On Saturday evening there will be Italy-Switzerland, the round of 16 of the European Championships, with the Azzurri unbeaten against the Swiss for 31 years. But the Swiss coach Murat Yakin he wants to face the challenge without any awe, especially after the near miss against Germany where only a goal in injury time deprived Switzerland of first place in the group.
Yakin’s charge ahead of Italy-Switzerland
To the Swiss newspaper SRFYakin stated as “We can’t say we are favouritesbecause we will face Italy, but the draw with Germany gave us confidence and we can’t hide it.” Switzerland who came close to achieving first place in the group against the Germans, only being achieved in injury time by Niklas Fülkrug’s goal. The coach highlights how “We don’t want to worry too much about Italy. They have a lot of great players and different ways of playing that make them dangerous. We will look at ourselves, but obviously we will also have to focus on our opponents to understand where their strengths and weaknesses are. But they too will have to think of us. We are in good shape, unpredictableand we will try to get something out of this match.”
Yakin obviously also studied the Azzurri during Italy-Croatia. “We followed the match carefully, analyzing tactics and strategies which we will look into in more detail over the next few days. They are unpredictable, but we are prepared. Even from a mental point of view, we have enough quality to face a match like this“. To try to defeat Italy, Yakin will focus on strengths of his team: “Keeping the intensity high and the will to run made us strong. Our system, our strategy works and we have the element of surprise on our side“.
When is Italy-Switzerland played: date and time of the round of 16 match at Euro 2024
Italy and Switzerland met in the last edition of the European Championship, when the Azzurri prevailed by winning 3-0 during the group stage. The last precedents date back to the World Cup qualifiers in Qatar, when both matches ended in a draw, with penalties missed by Jorginho, and Italy sensationally missing out on qualification for the World Cup by drawing against Bulgaria and being overtaken in the standings by Switzerland.
