DUESSELDORF, Germany: Three years on from losing the European Championship final on penalties, England beat Switzerland in a shootout to reach the semifinals of Euro 2024.
Trent Alexander-Arnold scored the winner as England swept all of their penalties to win the shootout 5-3 after a 1-1 draw in extra time on Saturday.
England converted their first four penalties and Alexander-Arnold won the game with the fifth, blasting his shot into the top corner. Another who scored was Bukayo Saka, who missed the last penalty kick of the final shootout in 2021.
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford earlier saved from Manuel Akanji, who took Switzerland’s first penalty kick.
England go on to play Turkiye or the Netherlands in Dortmund on Wednesday for a spot in the final.
Switzerland, which have never reached the semifinals of a major tournament, exit the European Championship on penalties in the quarterfinals for the second time running after defeat to Spain three years ago.
It was the second game in a row that England left it late to win, after beating Slovakia 2-1 in extra time in the last 16.
The quarterfinal went to extra time after England forward Saka scored with a shot off the post in the 80th minute to cancel out Breel Embolo’s goal five minutes earlier for Switzerland.
The Swiss had the better chances to win in extra time, including substitute Xherdan Shaqiri hitting the frame of the goal direct from a corner.
England were without captain and striker Harry Kane for the shootout after he collided with manager Gareth Southgate on the touchline while challenging for a ball and appeared to be hurt. He was replaced by Ivan Toney.
England beat Switzerland in a penalty shootout to reach Euro 2024 semifinals
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England beat Switzerland in a penalty shootout to reach Euro 2024 semifinals
- Trent Alexander-Arnold scored the winner as England swept all of their penalties to win the shootout 5-3
- England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford earlier saved from Manuel Akanji, who took Switzerland’s first penalty kick
CONCACAF says it will have 6 automatic berths for 2030 World Cup
- CONCACAF said Friday that qualifying will start in September 2027 with its teams ranked 14th through 35th playing a home-and-home, total-goals first round
- The top two teams in each group advance to a 12-nation final round
MIAMI: The governing body for North and Central American and Caribbean soccer says it will have six automatic qualifying spots in the 2030 World Cup and a seventh will be available as part of an intercontinental playoff.
CONCACAF made its announcement Friday, although FIFA does not appear to have announced each confederation’s allocation of berths and the president of the South American confederation CONMEBOL has proposed expanding the tournament yet again to 64 nations.
FIFA’s media office said in an email it was looking into whether confederations’ allocation had been decided.
CONCACAF said Friday that qualifying will start in September 2027 with its teams ranked 14th through 35th playing a home-and-home, total-goals first round.
The 11 winners will advance to the second round along with its top 13-ranked nations. The 24 teams will be split into six four-team groups and each nation will play six matches, in October and November 2027, and March 2028.
The top two teams in each group advance to a 12-nation final round, to be played in June 2028, and September and October 2029. There will be three final-round groups, and each nation will play six matches. The top two teams in each group will qualify for a 2030 World Cup that will be primarily in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with one game each in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The top two third-place teams advance to a CONCACAF home-and-home, total-goals playoff in November 2029. The winner will advance to FIFA’s intercontinental playoffs.
With the expansion of the World Cup from 32 teams in 2022 to 48 this year, CONCACAF doubled its automatic berths to six. United States, Mexico and Canada received automatic spots as co-hosts, Curaçao, Haiti and Panama earned berths in qualifying.
Jamaica has a chance to earn a seventh berth next month in playoffs with New Caledonia and Congo.
CONCACAF also said its 2027 Nations League semifinals and final will be at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
