Under Pressure was what the stadium DJ chose to play when we went, with gruelling inevitability, to penalties. But Cole Palmer never feels it, Jude Bellingham never feels it, and Jordan Pickford, veteran of all the head work and marginal gains stuff Gareth Southgate’s England do, has grown to revel in these situations.
To Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold, pressure proved nothing too and it was the same, incredibly, for Bukayo Saka, whose redemption story was the narrative that topped the night.
The bare facts: England 1 Switzerland 1, then England 5 Switzerland 3, from 12 yards, but of course numbers convey nothing of the human drama, the gut-twisting, the fingernails-down-a-blackboard excruciation of occasions like this. England won via a shoot-out, a statement which to a previous generation of their fans would have seemed too improbable to be the truth.
But they did. They damn well did. They trusted the process, trusted themselves, walked through fire — and won.
The ghost that was laid to rest was the Euro 2020 final, where England lost on penalties to Italy, and the happy memories rekindled were of the 2018 World Cup, and their landmark win over Colombia in this manner, and the 2019 Nations League finals, also a shoot-out victory against the Swiss. After dancing in front of the fans — yes, dancing — Southgate strode into his press conference and spoke of his players’ “unbelievable resilience and character”. Nobody showed more of that than Saka.
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He was England’s outstanding player of a seesawing game where Southgate flipped formations to 3-4-2-1 and achieved better pressing, passing connections and ability to play high up the pitch, but still couldn’t solve issues like a stunted left side and inability to penetrate through the middle.
This left Saka, playing as a right wingback, with not only extra defensive responsibilities but the huge burdens of being the team’s main outlet and source of chance creation. It was he who dug deep to even get the team to extra time.
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England were 15 minutes from going out when Breel Embolo struck from close range for the Swiss. Southgate made bold substitutions. Palmer for the outstanding Ezri Konsa, Eberechi Eze for the shattered Kieran Trippier, Luke Shaw (yes, Luke Shaw!) for the fading Kobbie Mainoo.
Eze, at left wingback, stretched Switzerland on one flank and down the other, England built an attack where Declan Rice played out to Saka. Saka dropped a shoulder, hit the accelerator and burst inside Michel Aebischer to arc a low, powerful shot of extraordinary difficulty and accuracy round Yann Sommer and in off the post. In the VIP seats, the Prince of Wales was on his feet and Mark Bullingham, the FA chief executive, wearing a queasy look, placed a hand over his heart.
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The rest of normal time, and most of extra time, was basketball. A we-attack-you-attack tale of open football, tired defending and ragged missed chances. Then to penalties, and England went first, Palmer stroking his home with that, “What’s the fuss about?” expression he probably came out of the womb wearing.
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Next Pickford, pulling all sorts of faces and tricks, seemed to get in the head of Manuel Akanji. The thoughtful Swiss — and being thoughtful is probably not a good thing in shoot-outs — struck a poor effort which Pickford plunged to this left and saved.
Bellingham rolled his penalty in, glared at Sommer and did his celebration for the England fans behind the goal the teams were shooting into. For Switzerland, Fabian Schär scored, and then came Saka. In that Euro 2020 final, when just a teen, he missed, suffering horrendous abuse and to even step up now took iron.
Walk up. Twelve yards. Step back. Wait. Breathe. Go. Shoot. Since Southgate took charge, England work and work on their routines and the odd thing was that at no point did they look more in control than when the shoot-out came.
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Saka was a marvel. Despite the pressure on him, the Arsenal man remembered all the teachings about slowing things down. He waited longer than any player before taking his kick and sent Sommer the wrong way then lit up the Düsseldorf Arena with the most beautiful grin. Xherdan Shaqiri, Zeki Amdouni and an ice-cold Toney scored theirs. England’s last taker was Alexander-Arnold, sent on specifically for the shoot-out as a 115th-minute replacement for Phil Foden.
He was under enormous pressure, especially given the noise about his performances in midfield. But, after a slow walk back, and deliberate run-up, Alexander-Arnold lashed home the best penalty of the night. England were there and the Swiss were in tears.
In his 100th game, Southgate made so many big calls — and ultimately got them right. One was replacing Harry Kane with Toney in extra time after Kane felt cramp when getting up after being sent crashing over the touchline and into a drinks box by an Akanji challenge.
Another was his system. Choosing Kieran Trippier as left wingback seemed quixotic, given Trippier’s struggles as a plain old left back, but doing so allowed him to keep Saka on the right — with great effect.
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Yet another was replacing the suspended Marc Guéhi with Konsa, who defended with grit and calmness from the opening moments, when he stood firm to thwart Remo Freuler inside England’s box. Konsa’s recovery pace also allowed the backline to push higher and that let England pin the opposition in their defensive third for the first time all Euros.
Saka made the most of it, continually taking on Aebischer and burrowing past him with his quick feet and body strength, and Aebischer risked conceding penalties twice in the first half with his desperate attempts to defend England’s No 7.
But despite Saka playing good balls into Switzerland’s six-yard area neither Kane nor Bellingham — who both looked not quite fit — could get on the end of them.
Foden gave a fine all-round performance, grafting with incredible energy and commitment to try to curb Switzerland’s conductor, Granit Xhaka, but Xhaka is too good to quell completely and Switzerland’s team play — using width, rotations and fast-paced long attacks — was electric in periods.
England had to defend for their lives at times, and Rice and John Stones played giant roles while, early in the second half, Konsa made a heroic challenge to stop Embolo scoring with a diving header from a Ricardo Rodriguez cross.
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At that point Swiss momentum was building. Their centre backs were pushing into England territory to add weight to their attack and after Stones and then Konsa cleared, Aebischer looped a volley over from the edge of the box.
A Swiss goal was coming. In the 75th minute, Akanji found Schär on the edge of England’s area, and Schär played the reverse pass of No10 to put the threatening Dan Ndoye behind Trippier. Ndoye’s centre went through Konsa’s legs and Stones deflect it to the far post where Embolo forced the ball over the line.
As against Slovakia, England were on the brink — but within five minutes Saka had produced his brilliant equaliser. Still, the football could be smoother, and still there are obvious flaws but don’t doubt England’s mettle.
“These aren’t matches,” Southgate said. “They’re national events with huge pressure and really young men in the middle of it. Our team has been under enormous pressure and they’re doing so well, so well.”
And they’re in the semi-finals now. They graft, they grind, and continue on.
England (3-4-2-1): J Pickford 6 — K Walker 6, J Stones 7, E Konsa 8 (C Palmer 78min) — B Saka 8, K Mainoo 6 (L Shaw 78), D Rice 6, K Trippier 6 (E Eze 78) — P Foden 6 (T Alexander-Arnold 115), J Bellingham 6— H Kane 5 (I Toney 109).
Switzerland (3-4-2-1): Y Sommer 8 — F Schär 6, M Akanji 9, R Rodriguez 7 — D Ndoye 6 (D Zakaria 98), R Freuler 7 (V Sierro 118), G Xhaka 7, M Aebischer 5 (Z Amdouni 118) — F Rieder 5 (S Zuber 64, 7), R Vargas 7 (S Widmer 64, 6) — B Embolo 7 (X Shaqiri 109).
