Switzerland coach Murat Yakin says his side go into Saturday’s quarter-final meeting with England with confidence.
The 49-year-old was under-fire after a low-key qualification phase for this tournament but has guided his country to the last-eight, coming within seconds of beating Germany to top Group A and then out-classed the defending champions Italy in the Round of 16.
The next coach plotting the downfall of @England at #Euro2024
Murat Yakin faces the media alongside a very familiar face (Fabian Schar) in Dusseldorf… 🇨🇭 @5liveSport #BBCFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/nNyd7gdGoM
— Gary Flintoff (@GaryFlintoff) July 5, 2024
Speaking to local broadcaster RSI ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Gareth Southgate’s men in Dusseldorf (5pm BST), Yakin insisted they respect England, but do not need to fear them.
“England have a lot of quality,” he said, “but we are in good shape, have a lot of confidence, and have shown we can play against big teams like Italy and Germany. We will cause problems for the English.”
Yakin says he expects England to pose more of a threat than Italy did, especially in terms of their attacking threat.
“Tomorrow we will face a very different opponent compared to Italy – the English have a lot of quality in their team, so we expect to be put under much more pressure.
“However, we will continue to follow our playing philosophy. We have already shown that we can cause problems for the big teams.”
With Marc Guehi suspended, England have been reportedly practicing with three centre backs rather than the back-four they have used until now, but Yakin thinks it might be mind games from Southgate.
“It would be a really special circumstance if England changed their system to adapt to us,” he said. “I don’t think that will happen.
“We expect a four-man defence, even if we know that something could change during the match. We will think about exploiting our strengths, we have qualities that certainly make us dangerous.”
Switzerland stunned the globe to beat World Cup winners France in the last-16 of Euro 2020, only to bow out in the last-eight at the hands of Spain on penalties.
They have never reached a semi-final at a World Cup or Euros but Yakin added: “England are very strong on an individual and team level, it will be very tough, but we will do everything we can to come out on top.!
Former Arsenal skipper Granit Xhaka has recovered from a thigh strain, with Yakin adding: “Granit is fit. He trained with the team. I count on him 100% tomorrow.“
