01-Jul-2021 20:00:17 | The Guardian
Manager, and some of the players, left many in the country underwhelmed but the win against France has changed everything
Switzerland had rarely seen such scenes. After the epic victory against France on Monday – the country’s first win in a knockout match at a major finals since 1954 – supporters bounced into the streets of cities and villages, beeping horns and detonating fireworks into the early hours. The St Galler Tagblatt conveyed the magnitude of the feat through the front-page headline: “We are Asterix!”
Indomitable underdogs is not how the Swiss saw themselves before the victory. Chronic bottlers would have been closer to the mark. In the German-speaking part of the country, the average TV viewing figures for the game were nearly 200,000 lower than for the final group game against Turkey, and many faithless fans switched off as soon as Paul Pogba put France 3-1 up.
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