bluesfan94
Registered User
The first Round of 16 matchup that has been finalized, we see an Alpine duel between Switzerland and Italy.
Switzerland finished second in Group A. They looked strong against Hungary in their opening match, winning 3-1, before closing out the group stage with two draws. The first, against Scotland, saw goals early, with Scott McTominay scoring off a deflection for Scotland before Xherdan Shaqiri picked up a loose pass and fired home. In its final match, an early goal for Germany was ruled out and Dan Ndoye scored for the Swiss shortly thereafter. For a long while, it looked like Switzerland would beat their neighbors, but Niclas Fullkrug equalized in the 90+2, pushing Switzerland into second.
Italy also finished second in its group, Group B. Like Switzerland, Italy won its first match, knocking off Albania. Italy came back from a first minute Albanian goal, scoring twice in five minutes and then playing defense for 75 minutes. Italy then looked pretty atrocious against Spain, although they did lose only 1-0, despite the potential for Spain to really turn the screw. Italy was trailing by the same 1-0 score line going into stoppage time against Croatia following a Luka Modric finish shortly after Modric saw his penalty saved. However, keeping with the theme of late goals in this tournament, Italy equalized through Mattia Zaccagni in the 90+8.
Switzerland finished second in Group A. They looked strong against Hungary in their opening match, winning 3-1, before closing out the group stage with two draws. The first, against Scotland, saw goals early, with Scott McTominay scoring off a deflection for Scotland before Xherdan Shaqiri picked up a loose pass and fired home. In its final match, an early goal for Germany was ruled out and Dan Ndoye scored for the Swiss shortly thereafter. For a long while, it looked like Switzerland would beat their neighbors, but Niclas Fullkrug equalized in the 90+2, pushing Switzerland into second.
Italy also finished second in its group, Group B. Like Switzerland, Italy won its first match, knocking off Albania. Italy came back from a first minute Albanian goal, scoring twice in five minutes and then playing defense for 75 minutes. Italy then looked pretty atrocious against Spain, although they did lose only 1-0, despite the potential for Spain to really turn the screw. Italy was trailing by the same 1-0 score line going into stoppage time against Croatia following a Luka Modric finish shortly after Modric saw his penalty saved. However, keeping with the theme of late goals in this tournament, Italy equalized through Mattia Zaccagni in the 90+8.
