The third match of a busy day at Euro 2024 on Wednesday takes us to Cologne for the evening clash in Group A which sees Scotland looking to get their tournament back on track when they go up against Switzerland.
Scotland suffered a disastrous result in the opening round of games and know that another loss here makes it very hard to progress to the knockout stage while Switzerland got off to the beginning they would have wanted and will be hoping to kick on here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the BBC1 channel in the UK with the build-up to the contest beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off.
Scotland
It is hard to put into words just how bad Scotland were in their opening match against Germany and it goes without saying that they need an enormous improvement on what they showed in that game if they are to stand any chance in this one. I think most people expected Scotland to be up against it in that opener and probably come out on the wrong side of it but nobody expected them to be as timid and sheepish as they were in it and unless they get tighter to men in this one they might suffer a similar fate.
The big problem for Scotland arriving at this tournament was the lack of a genuine goal threat. That is only going to give opponents the confidence to press them higher up the pitch and if they are not good enough to play out of that press, which the signs in the opener are that they are not, teams will win the ball back quickly and impose themselves on the Scots. Steve Clarke really needs to find a way for his side to spend more time on the ball regardless of the goal threat they may or may not carry.
Switzerland
I was fairly buoyant about the Switzerland chances in this tournament before a ball was kicked in it and there wasn’t much in their opening game that put me off of that original thought. They comfortably saw off Hungary and if they had been a little more clinical in front of goal the margin of victory could have been even better than it actually was. Having won that opening match though they are in full control of their destiny from here on in.
There are still question marks over this Swiss defence, which when you see the personnel involved in it is a bit of a surprise, but given the quality of the individuals you would be surprised if it doesn’t improve the longer the tournament goes on. If it does then Switzerland are very much a threat at these finals because they look much more dynamic in attacking areas with a lot more creativity than we have seen from them in previous finals.
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Team News
Scotland will be forced into a change as Ryan Porteous is suspended after his assault on Ilkay Gundogan in the opening game. Grant Hanley or Scott McKenna will come in for him. Billy Gilmour and Lawrence Shankland are pushing for starts.
Switzerland brought Breel Embolo off the bench for their opening game and the Monaco man might get a few extra minutes in this game as he builds his way back to full fitness but the Swiss are likely to name an unchanged side.
Betting
Given that I am already on Switzerland outright I’m happy to let them win this match if they are good enough to do it, which I expect them to be. I’m going to look for another way in for this encounter though and I am going to go from a Scotland point of view. I do think we’ll get a reaction in their intensity even if that doesn’t translate into the result and as such it is their match fouls market that catches my eye in this one.
You can get odds against on Scotland committing 12 or more fouls and when you consider that they barely laid a glove on Germany in their opening game yet still made nine fouls, a fired up side with a point to prove will surely be going into many more tackles in this one. It has been lashing down in Cologne for a few days so we are going to have slick conditions for this match and this could easily turn into a contest where Scotland get a bit desperate as defeat will put them out of the tournament given the state of their net run rate. I expect a committed, intense display from the Scots so asking them to commit a dozen fouls doesn’t seem too big an ask to me.
Tips
Back Scotland – 12 or more fouls for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with BetVictor
