Euro 2024 updates: Switzerland haunt woeful Italy again - ESPN

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BERLIN — Once again, the neighbours to the north haunt Italian nights. Italy's two draws against Switzerland — two games in which they dominated but missed penalties — cost them an automatic place at the 2022 World Cup. And now, this: the reigning European champions fell 2-0 in the round of 16 at Euro 2024.

The difference? This time Italy were roundly and comprehensively beaten by a Swiss side that might be less technically gifted (if so, not by much) but are more athletic, more intelligent and — dare we say it — better coached.

That's a credit to Swiss boss Murat Yakin, though it wasn't that long ago — October 2023, following a 3-3 draw against Belarus that saw his side needing goals in the final two minutes to avoid an embarrassing home defeat — that some were calling for his sacking. On that occasion, Yakin didn't help himself after the match. He was asked about how his backline looked unprepared and said: «We don't need to prepare against such teams [as Belarus].»

Switzerland certainly looked prepared against Italy… or maybe it was just because the Azzurri were THAT bad.

They punished Luciano Spalletti's decision to drop Jorginho for Nicolo Fagioli in the playmaking role by shutting down his passing lanes; they blunted Italy's press by having Ricardo Rodríguez join Remo Freuler and Granit Xhaka in the build-up; and the constant, pacy threat of Dan Ndoye and Ruben Vargas pinned the opposition full-backs deeper than they should have been.

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