Swiss look to end knockout drought
Bucharest, June 27: Winning the toughest group at the European Championship wasn’t really a big surprise for the World Cup champions. Winning only one match in that group was, though.
Regardless, it was still enough for France to finish first in Group ‘F’ and set up a match against Switzerland on Monday in the Round of 16.
With Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Karim Benzema, Deschamps has enough attacking power to deliver back-to-back major titles.
Benzema and Mbappe swap quick passes and switch positions high up the field, with the quickthinking and skilful Griezmann operating behind them. But none of them were able to score in the opening 1-0 win over Germany, a match decided by Mats Hummels’ owngoal. Griezmann did get on the scoreboard in the 1-1 draw against Hungary, while Benzema scored both in the 2-2 draw against Portugal after rejoining the national squad following an exile of almost six years.
Benzema is coming off a season in which he had 30 goals for Real Madrid, and one of his previous best performances for France came in a 5-2 win over the Swiss at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The 22-year-old Mbappe, excelled at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, scoring four goals on the way to helping France win their second title at the tournament.
Switzerland have their own battle with history to deal with. Switzerland finished third in Group ‘A’ with four points, advancing as one of the four best third-place teams. After a
1-1 draw with Wales and a
3-0 loss to Italy, Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic was under fire for what critics saw as negative tactics and a lack of creativity.