England beat Swiss on penalties to succeed in Euro 2024 semi | USAEMALL.com

Three years on from losing the European Championship final on penalties, England have beaten Switzerland in a shoot-out to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2024.

Trent Alexander-Arnold scored the winning kick as England converted all of their penalties to win the shootout 5-3 after a 1-1 draw.

“The team showed a lot of character, belief, heart and spirit out there,” Alexander-Arnold told the BBC.

Another who scored was Bukayo Saka, who missed the last penalty kick of the shoot-out in the final in 2021 and was racially abused on social media.

Having lost six of their first seven penalty shoot-outs England have won two of the last three, both under Southgate who made improving their record a key plank of his management having experienced being the player who missed the decisive kick in the Euro 96 semi-final.

Saka had earlier equalised to take the game to extra-time after the Swiss took the lead.

The other shoot-out scorers were Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham and Ivan Toney, who returned in January from an eight-month ban for breaching betting rules.

England led the shoot-out after two penalties, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford having saved from Manuel Akanji, who took Switzerland’s first.

England now play Turkey or the Netherlands in Dortmund on Wednesday for a spot in the final.

Switzerland, who have never reached the last four in a major tournament, exit the European Championship on penalties in the quarter-finals for the second time running after defeat to Spain three years ago.

The quarter-final went to extra time after Saka scored with a shot off the post in the 80th minute to cancel out Breel Embolo’s goal five minutes earlier for Switzerland.

England had been the better side in regulation, delivering their best performance of the tournament without often threatening Yann Sommer’s goal.

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. Pickford then saved from substitute Zeki Amdouni in the 119th to keep England in the game.

In charge of his 100th game on Saturday, the much-criticised Southgate has now taken England to at least the semi-finals in three of the four major tournaments in his eight-year tenure.