Euro Quarterfinals, Spain vs Switzerland 1-1 (3-1 in Penalties)

 I had predicted a hard fought match between Spain & Switzerland, with Spain pipping ahead - what an endearing match it turned out to be, as Switzerland made Spain toil into their last sinews into extra time & the penalties, before bowing out. 

Spain began in their usual ball possession style, keeping the game under control, while Swiss tried to crowd their defense in order to thwart Spanish forwards & look for sudden burst of counter attacks. It was Jordi Alba, who gave Spain the early lead in the 8th minute of the game, when he trapped the corner floated by Koke & his volley from the edge of the box, took a huge deflection off defender Zakaria, & skewed past a hapless Sommer in the goal. Spain looked in cruise control from then on into the game & created chances in abandon, only for the strikers to muffle, as half time whistle was blown. 

In the 2nd half, the Swiss came back with vigour & determination, growing into the game, as Spain continued to flounder at the front. They looked to defend their slender lead with ball possession, & this gave Swiss the vital momentum. The big bodies started to surge forward with more gumption as the game time kept moving towards the last 20 minutes. In a beautiful move ahead, conjured by hard working Shaqiri, the ball fell inside the box between two defenders & in a horrible mix up between Laporte & Torres, the ball glided to Remo Freuler & he cooly squared it for Shaqiri to tuck in the equaliser past Unai Simon. Game on, with score tied at 1-1 & another 20 minutes of play ahead. The Swiss were growing in confidence, while the Spanish forward line looked out of sorts - the crowd roared on in anticipation of another major upset. Just when things were heating up, Freuler made a horrible looking slide challenge to win back the ball in his own half from Moreno, & got red carded by the referee, as Switzerland were down to 10 men, giving away the crucial man advantage to Spain. 

Spain got back the advantage & game control, as they swarmed onto the Swiss box looking for the elusive goal, that did not come through. Sommer, under the bar, reeled off save after save, some acrobatic & some simple collections - in all more than 20 chances, by my count. It was frustrating to watch Spain miss so many opportunities - they have to find a solution to this anomaly if they have to go the distance, & the growing sense was that they may have to pay for their mistakes, as the game went past extra time & into the sudden death of penalties. At this stage, it was advantage Switzerland for sure, as they had successfully navigated the Spanish attacks & their goalkeeper Sommer was brimming with confidence. 

In the Penalty shoot out, Spain began poorly with Captain Busquets hitting the post, despite sending Sommer the other way, while, Gavranovic scored easily for Switzerland to take the lead. However, they could not sustain the lead, & next three players could not convert, twice saved by Unai Simon of Spain & one shot wide. On the other hand Spain missed one, but converted another two to wriggle past & into the semifinals. It was indeed a tough game, & Spain were indeed lucky to defeat a resolute Switzerland, profiting from the red card send off & also maintaining their cool in the shoot outs.