Key events
Niclas Fullkrug, this infectious, irresistible late bloomer, has equalised in stoppage time. Raum arrowed a cross from the left, and Fullkrug strained his neck muscles to force a header back across Sommer.
That’s such a good header, the finish of an expert.
GOAL! Switzerland 1-1 Germany (Fullkrug 90+2)
“Germany look a beaten team.”
90 min Germany look a beaten team. This must be one of Switzerland’s finest performances of the modern era.
Four added minutes.
88 min: Fine save by Neuer! Vargas pushes the ball back to Xhaka, who slaps an instant curler from 25 yards. Neuer flies to his right to push it round the post. That was a cracking effort from Xhaka, who has been very good again.
86 min Sane goes over in the area, but the referee isn’t interested. If it was a foul, and that’s debatable, it was outside the area.
Meanwhile the automated offside technology shows Vargas was about half a boot offside before he scored.
85 min: Havertz hits the bar! Kroos’s corner hits Havertz on the shoulder and loops onto the top of the bar! That was the best of all Havertz’s headed chances tonight, but he mistimed his header completely.
Disallowed goal! Switzerland 1-0 Germany
84 min Switzerland get out to devastating effect, when Amdouni puts Vargas through to finish unerringly across Neuer. And then the flag goes up.
It looks really tight on the replay but the offside decision stands.
83 min For the first time all night, Switzerland are struggling to get out. I was going to say they look shattered but the front three should be fresh.
82 min Kroos’s free-kick is punched away by Sommer as far as Sane on the edge of the area. He knocks the ball up and swishes a volley that swerves wider and wider.
80 min Beier has been really lively since coming on. Another substitute, Raum, wins a free-kick on the left wing after being pulled over by Widmer. He’s booked and will miss the last 16 game.
79 min Apologies, I lost myself for a second there. To be honest not much is happening in this game – Germany’s attacking is increasingly desperate, for richer and poorer.
79 min FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE SCOTLAND.
80 min “Puns?” sniffs Mac Millings. “How about my All-time Germany vs. Switzerland 2024 Music XI:
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Sommer over the Rainbow
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Fabian Cher
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Granit Xhaka Khan
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Dan Ndoye the Silence
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Toni “Counting” Kroos
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Ilkay Gundogan More Time
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Kai Still Havertz Found What I’m
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Okafor
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Kwadwo Duah Wanna Know?
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Deniz Undav Pressure
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Xherdan Shakira
(By the way, Rob: Havertz and Okafor is two players, but one song. If the punters don’t get it, that’s on them.)
78 min Havertz goes over in the D after a lunging tackle from Xhaka, but replays suggest it was a good tackle – if risky, given he’s on a yellow card.
77 min “Perhaps one of the most surprising things this tournament has shown so far is what a good pundit Joe Hart is turning out to be,” says David Wall. “We all knew Conor Coady was entertaining as he’s been on the radio in that role now and then for a few years now, but Hart was with him on 5Live earlier today, and again here, and they’re quite the double act. Knowledgeable, honest, but also self-deprecating, and funny. Few would have expected that from Hart when he was pulling faces at Pirlo in 2012.”
We all go a little mad sometimes.
76 min: Germany substitutions Switzerland continue to frustrate Germany, who are making two more substitutions. Leroy Sane and Niclas Fullkrug replace Musiala and Wirtz.
75 min “Florian Wirtz played the superb through ball for Musiala!” writes Alex, from Hull, living in Berlin, watching in Valencia.
That’s exactly what I wrote in the 59th-minute entry that I’ve just hastily updated.
72 min That could easily have been a penalty for Germany; Widmer was all over Beier like a cheap cliche.
70 min: Great defending from Akanji! Wirtz beats Aebischer and drives a cross to Kimmich, six yards out at the near post. His shot is brilliantly blocked by the stretching Akanji, and then Beier goes over as he fights for the loose ball with Widmer. There’s a VAR check for a possible penalty which eventually goes against Germany.
70 min The upside for Germany, if it stays like this, is that they couldn’t meet Spain until the final. The downside is they could need to beat Italy, England, France and Spain to win Euro 2024.
68 min Raum’s booming cross is headed over from six yards by the backpedalling Havertz. A tough chance.
68 min “A goal for Scotland means that it could be us who lose 6-1 to Portugal in the last 16 this time, Rob,” weeps Simon McMahon. “One single goal. Is that too much to ask, Scotland? IS IT?”
67 min Xhaka is booked for going over the ball on Musiala. He didn’t make much contact, if any, but that’s not really relevant.
66 min: Germany substitution Max Beier wins only his second cap, replacing Robert Andrich. That means Gundogan will drop deeper.
65 min: Switzerland substitutions Zeki Amdouni, Kwadwo Duah and Ruben Vargas replace the front three of Dan Ndoye, Breel Embolo and Fabian Rieder.
64 min Kroos’s corner is headed over by Havertz, another very difficult chance, if it was a chance at all.
63 min The substitute Raum swishes over the bar from 25 yards. Sweetly struck but too high.
62 min “Surely,” says Richard Hirst, “the appropriate procedure for international tournaments is to blame Gareth Southgate?”
It is now!
61 min: Germany substitutions David Raum and Nico Schlotterbeck replace Jonathan Tah and Maximilian Mittelstadt.
59 min “That through ball for Musiala might not be Pass of the Tournament, but it was certainly one of the most aesthetically pleasing,” says Matt Dony. “A thing of beauty. Angles manipulated like a crack chiropractor. It deserved a goal. Of course, a Swiss victory is objectively a lot funnier than a German one, so I’m kind of glad it came to nothing. Shame, though. I’ll just watch the pass a few dozen times, and ignore what happened after.”
Yes very nice, very nice, very nice, but who the hell played it? I’ve got facts I need to get right here!
58 min Akanji makes an excellent tackle on Havertz right on the edge of the area, then Xhaka deflects Kimmich’s cross for a corner.
57 min Switzerland take a bit of time out in the Germany half, and then a bit more when Tah fouls Embolo. They’ve been really impressive.
55 min Musiala moves inside from the left and finds Andrich, who tees up Kroos 25 yards out. He tries to cut across a drive but mistimes the connection and belts the ball miles wide.
54 min At one end or another, a goal is coming. Germany are essentially playing 2-3-5 when they have the ball.
50 min: Chance for Germany! Musiala runs onto a superb through pass from Wirtz and fires a shot from the edge of the area that is pushed away by Sommer. The rebound arrives awkwardly at Gundogan, whose follow-up shot goes well wide.
Musiala’s was the better chance but he shot too close to Sommer.
50 min “Is it a Uefa thing for teams to wear single colour kits rather than with contrasting shorts?” asks Andy Wood. “It’s strange seeing teams like Scotland or Germany without their contrasting shorts.”
I think the procedure is to blame Pep Guardiola. (I assume it’s a Uefa regulation but I don’t know for sure.)
48 min Moments later Embolo, who looks really good, moves dangerously into the area before being crowded out by three defenders.
48 min Embolo fires a killer ball to Widmer, who slips when through on goal. Ah, no matter: the flag went up once the ball ran through to Neuer.
47 min “If Germany manage to lose,” begins Ian Copestake, “I think the procedure is to blame Pep Guardiola.”
46 min Switzerland, currently top of Group A, get the second half underway.
Half-time reading
Half time: Switzerland 1-0 Germany
Switzerland are doing a number on Germany. They defended well and carried a threat on the break, most notably when Bologna’s Dan Ndoye scored a fine goal.
Germany had one or two moments, including a disallowed goal from Robert Andrich, but they’re finding it very hard to locate the eye in the Swiss needle. Maybe there isn’t one.
(Apologies for the delayed update by the way; we’re having a few technical problems.)
45 min “This is currently the one time living in NYC has been beneficial to watching football and cricket,” writes Rachel Clifton. “Amazing. Watched the incredible Afghanistan victory last night and have Copa America after this too.”
I imagine the rest of the time it’s a nightmare to live in NYC.
44 min Germany don’t want the half-time whistle because they’ve found their rhythm in the last five minutes.
42 min Germany are starting to stir. Musiala collects a loose ball 40 yards from goal, runs to the edge of the area and pokes the ball outside towards Havertz. It bounces awkwardly and Havertz belts his shot over the bar.
41 min Kroos takes a short corner, then crosses beyond the far post, where Rudiger heads wide. A difficult chance.
40 min “Switzerland has been one of the more impressive sides so far in this tournament,” writes Kári Tulinius. “I hesitate to suggest they’re dark horses, because experience suggests that they will go out in the round of 16, but if their levels don’t drop, they’ll give any team a game.”
I agree with every word. SO HOW DID THEY LOSE 6-1 TO PORTUGAL. I was MBMing that game and I was certain it would go to penalties after a hard-fought 1-1 draw.
38 min Tah is booked for an absurd high challenge on Embolo, which means he will miss Germany’s last 16 match.
Germany haven’t responded well to going behind; at the moment Switzerland look more likely to get the next goal.
37 min “I’m almost certainly missing something, but Musiala’s challenge wasn’t all that different from Ryan Porteous’s the other day, and Porteous got sent off,” says Mac Millings. “Are the rules that different for defenders and attackers? And if so, should they be?”
Why are you sending me grown-up emails, Millings? Give me shopping lists, puns, nostalgia, Watford.
(Erm, I’d like to see a few more replays but I suspect the two main differences are the level of force and whereabouts on the foot he caught him.)
35 min “At the risk of stating the obvious,” says Peter Oh, “the last few minutes have been exceedingly Ndoyeable to watch!”
34 min A long-range shot from Andrich deflects behind off his club team-mate Xhaka. The corner comes to nothing.
33 min As it stands Switzerland are top of the group, and Germany could be heading for a humdinger against Italy in the last 16.
31 min Ndoye almost gets his second, rifling just wide from the edge of the area! It was a brilliant effort, driven across goal with his left foot, and it rolled agonisingly wide.
Musiala, who is having a bad night, lost the ball in his own half and Switzerland broke. Rieder played a give-and-go on the edge of the area, then pushed the ball into Freuler on the left. He shaped a fine cross to the near post, where Ndoye stretched to volley expertly into the roof of the net. It’s his first goal for Switzerland.
There’s a VAR check for offside but the goal stands.
GOAL! Switzerland 1-0 Germany (Ndoye 28)
Switzerland take the lead with a terrific goal from Dan Ndoye!
25 min Ndoye is booked for Rudigering Rudiger.