Entering the third-place match of the Nations League against Switzerland, coach Gareth Southgate made a series of changes in the starting lineup of the England team compared to the defeat against the Netherlands in the semi-finals. Goalkeeper Pickford, centre-back Maguire, midfielder Fabian Delph and Sterling are all retained.
The three players in the Champions League final, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez and Danny Rose, were used to replace Kyle Walker, John Stones and Ben Chilwell in defence.
In midfield, Eric Dier and Dele Alli replaced Ross Barkley - Declan Rice. Harry Kane replaced Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho had to give up the starting position to Jesse Lingard after a lackluster performance.
As soon as the referee blew the whistle to start, England rushed to the Swiss court. And in the second minute, Harry Kane dribbled the ball on the right wing and crossed into the penalty area. However, Kane's cross hit the Swiss crossbar.
After the exciting first minutes of the match, England could no longer maintain their dominance and appeared quite deadlocked in front of Switzerland's tight defense.
It was not until the 35th minute that Southgate's players created another clear chance but Alli headed the ball over the bar after a precise cross from Alexander-Arnold. wasting too many opportunities, England accepted to enter the break with a score of 0-0.
In the second half, England was still the team that took the initiative on the field. In the 55th minute, Tam Su was almost given a goal when defender Fabian Schar accidentally cleared the ball to find the post along the home team. Before that, Danny Rose was the author of the extremely uncomfortable cross-field situation on the left wing.
In the following minutes, the match returned with boredom and lackluster. In the 84th minute, the Englishman celebrated a missed goal when Callum Wilson put the ball into the net.
However, after consulting VAR, the referee determined that the Three Lions striker had fouled Akanji before and did not recognize the goal. Like the semi-final, England had to enter extra time.
In the first extra time, the most dangerous situation occurred in the 99th minute. Alexander-Arnold crossed the ball accurately for Alli to head, but goalkeeper Sommer reacted brilliantly to save Switzerland.
Entering the second extra time, Coach Southgate " lay off" when bringing Jadon Sancho and Ross Barkley onto the field. In the 117th minute, Sterling took a dangerous free kick but the ball found the crossbar. A day of unlucky competition for Sterling personally as well as the England team.
The match forced them to take a series of brain-weighing penalty shoots and the England team were the ones who were more courageous in successfully taking all 6 shots. Meanwhile, in the 6th shot, Josip Drmic was caught by goalkeeper Pickford.
In the end, England won 6-5 in a penalty shootout, thereby finishing the Nations League in 3rd place. This is also the highest ranking that the Three Lions have achieved in an international tournament since EURO 1968 (also finishing in 3rd place).
