Xhaka 'finds calm'published at 16:20 British Summer Time 15 June 2024
16:20 BST 15 June 2024
FT: Hungary 1-3 Switzerland
Izzy Christiansen Former Everton and England midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Live
You can see the maturity in his play. My word, Granit Xhaka has developed and found this sense of calm but still has that bite about him that you don't want to lose. It must be the Xabi Alonso influence.
Match statspublished at 16:13 British Summer Time 15 June 2024
16:13 BST 15 June 2024
FT: Hungary 1-3 Switzerland
Switzerland picked
up only their fourth win in 19 European Championship matches (D8 L7), winning
their opening match in a finals for only a second time, after
2016 (1-0 v Albania).
Hungary have only
won two of their 12 Euros matches (D4 L6), a win rate
of 17%. Among nations with more than five games at the finals, only Romania (6%) and Poland
(14%) have a lower win percentage.
There were 22 es in the build up to Switzerland's
opener, scored by Kwadwo Duah, the third-longest ing sequence leading to a
goal at the Euros on record (since 1980).
Switzerland have only lost one of their last 15
matches in all competitions (W7 D7), a 0-1 defeat to Romania in qualifying in November 2023.
Barnabas Varga was
the fifth player to score on his Euros debut for Hungary, after
Ferenc Bene (1964), Dezso Novak (1964), Adam Szalai (2016), and Zoltan Stieber
(2016). Varga has scored seven goals in just nine caps.
Ricardo Rodríguez
played his 22nd game at a major international tournament for
Switzerland, the outright most of any player for the nation.
Swiss have 'too much quality'published at 15:59 British Summer Time 15 June 2024
15:59 BST 15 June 2024
FT: Hungary 1-3 Switzerland
Izzy Christiansen Former Everton and England midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Live
Superb first half from Switzerland. In the second they knew there would be a response from Hungary, in the end, too much quality from that Swiss camp. Hungary will be left wanting more but know they didn't have the quality to do it.
Route one does the jobpublished at 15:53 British Summer Time 15 June 2024
15:53 BST 15 June 2024
Hungary 1-3 Switzerland
Izzy Christiansen Former Everton and England midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Live
Route one. Sommer launches it out of his hands and the ball is just not dealt with. Embolo capitalises and lifts the ball over the goalkeeper to seal the deal. I think his knee brace maybe slipped down his leg before he scored...
Hungary go two up toppublished at 15:40 British Summer Time 15 June 2024
15:40 BST 15 June 2024
Hungary 1-2 Switzerland
Izzy Christiansen Former Everton and England midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Live
Hungary have changed their shape. They've gone with two strikers now. Substitute Martin Adam will play alongside Varga and occupy the two Swiss centre backs.
Highlights: Switzerland beat Hungary in their Euro 2024 opening group game
Charlotte Coates
BBC Sport journalist
Switzerland battled their way to victory over Hungary as they made a winning start to their Euro 2024 campaign at Cologne Stadium.
Kwadwo Duah justified his surprise inclusion by boss Murat Yakin as he slotted home his first international goal, before Michel Aebischer doubled Switzerland's lead on the stroke of half-time.
Barnabas Varga gave Hungary hope with 30 minutes left after the striker guided Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai's brilliantly-weighted cross beyond Yann Sommer.
Substitute Breel Embolo clinched the three points in stoppage time with a lovely lobbed finish over Peter Gulacsi.
Scotland remain bottom of Group A after the 5-1 thrashing at the hands of while Switzerland sit second - behind the tournament hosts.
Yakin's side gained control of the ball from the off and dominated as Hungary created little to nothing in attack during the first 45 minutes.
London-born Duah, who had only played 45 minutes for the Swiss before this game, was slipped in brilliantly by Aebischer before finishing beyond Gulacsi in the 12th minute.
On the stroke of half-time, left-wing back Aebischer cut in on his right foot to expertly place a strike beyond the diving Gulacsi from 20 yards.
In the 63rd minute, Varga missed a gilt-edge chance to halve the deficit as he steered his header wide.
But he responded well, meeting Szoboszlai's curling ball three minutes later with a deft header to halve the deficit.
Despite being urged on by their fans, the resurgent Hungarians were unable to find an equaliser.
Having only recently returned to action following a cruciate ligament injury, Monaco striker Embolo was introduced off the bench in the 74th minute and pounced on a defensive error to slot home in the third minute of added time and settle the outcome.
The Swiss face Scotland next in Cologne on Wednesday - live on BBC One - while Hungary take on earlier in the day.
Beating 'looks impossible' - Hungary boss
Hungary boss Marco Rossi was unimpressed by his side.
"We play in four days. I dare anybody to bet one Hungarian forint on us. As of today that looks impossible," the Italian said.
A forint is worth about one-fifth of a British penny.
Rossi added: "We had a tactical misunderstanding. We didn't cope and have time to press them. The first half was very bad. We were too ive.
"I'm not looking for guilty people. I'm the coach and need to take my responsibility.
"We had some shortcomings in individual performances. There aren't many strategies to stop individual mistakes."
A happier Switzerland boss Murat Yakin said: "I liken football to chess, and today we got our tactics right. We used this formation for a particular reason.
"We focused on making the most of our strengths and we made our opponents' lives very hard in the first half."
This will be the second encounter between Hungary and Switzerland at a major tournament, 86 years after they met in the quarter-finals of the 1938 FIFA World Cup, during which Hungary won 2-0.
Switzerland have won six of their last nine matches against Hungary (D2 L1). They last tasted defeat in November 1998 in a Budapest friendly.
The last two matches between Hungary and Switzerland have produced 12 goals, with Hungary scoring four to Switzerland’s eight. Both matches were qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Hungary have qualified for their third consecutive UEFA EURO, having only appeared in two of the previous 14 tournaments (1964, 1972). They finished third in their first UEFA EURO appearance in 1964, their best performance in the tournament but since then, they have won only one of their nine matches (D4 L4), a group stage victory against Austria in 2016 (2-0).
Hungary scored the most set piece goals of any side during UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying (penalties excluded), scoring seven goals from such situations (x3 corners, x3 free-kicks, x1 direct free-kick).
Switzerland are taking part in their sixth UEFA EURO, including their third in a row. It’s also the first time that Switzerland have qualified for six consecutive major international tournaments (WC + EURO) – in fact, over the last 20 years, they have failed to qualify for a major tournament on only one occasion: EURO 2012.
Switzerland and are the only European teams to have reached the knockout stages across each of the last five major international tournaments (WC + EURO).
Switzerland were eliminated in the group phase in their first three UEFA EURO participations (1996, 2004, 2008). They have since reached the knockout stages in each of their last two appearances: round of 16 in 2016 and quarter-finals in 2020.
Penalty shoot-outs excluded, Switzerland have won only three of their 18 matches at the UEFA EURO. Meanwhile, six of their last eight matches in the competition have ended in a draw (W1 L1).
Dominik Szoboszlai was involved in more goals than any other Hungary player in UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying (4 goals, 3 assists). He also topped their charts for chances created (23), shots attempted (28), shots on target (13), successful es in the opposition half (256), expected goals (3.1) and expected assists (2).
Xherdan Shaqiri has scored or assisted 46% of Switzerland’s goals at major tournaments over the last 10 years (since WC 2014) – he’s found the net nine times and ed four assists across the Swiss’ overall total of 28 goals over that period.