Bliss for Swiss: France beaten on penalties, Spain fend off Croatia

Bucharest, June 29

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Au revoir France, this summer belongs to Yann Sommer. Switzerland beat France 5-4 on penalties in the pre-quarterfinals of Euro 2020, with Sommer doing the star turn.

The Switzerland goalkeeper, who left in the middle of the European Championship’s group stage to be with his wife for the birth of their second daughter, made the biggest save of his life against one of the best players in the world. That gave the Swiss a 5-4 penalty shootout victory over World Cup champions France on Monday night, and a spot in the quarterfinals of a major tournament for the first time in 67 years. The match had finished 3-3.

Sommer dived to his right to save the final penalty by Kylian Mbappe, the young France forward who became a superstar at the last World Cup by scoring in the final.

“I think that everything we had in us, we left out on the field,” Sommer said. “I’m unbelievably proud of this team, how we’ve done it this evening.” It was the third game in the round of 16 at Euro 2020 to go to extra time but the first to be decided by penalties.

Simon’s redemption

Copenhagen: Unai Simon made one of the biggest blunders of the European Championships, then made one of the tournament’s biggest saves. The Spain goalkeeper rebounded from an error that led to a bizarre own-goal to help his team reach the Euro 2020 quarterfinals after a 5-3 extra-time win over Croatia.

“Unai gave a lesson to kids everywhere,” Spain coach Luis Enrique said. “Football is made up of errors and his reaction — making great saves — was an example of why we have such confidence in him.” The own-goal came in the 20th minute when Spain midfielder Pedri Gonzalez played a long back-pass to Simon from near the halfway line. — AP/PTI

Copa America: Messi stars as Argentina crush Bolivia

Cuiaba (Brazil): Lionel Messi scored twice as Argentina beat Bolivia 4-1 on Monday to set up a Copa America quarterfinal against Ecuador. Alejandro Gomez volleyed home a sublime pass from Messi after five minutes before the Barcelona forward, who passed Javier Mascherano as Argentina’s most capped international, doubled their lead from the penalty spot after 32 minutes. Messi made it 3-0 shortly before halftime with a clever lob and while Erwin Saavedra scored a consolation for Bolivia on the hour mark substitute Lautaro Martinez restored Argentina’s three-goal cushion with a tap-in five minutes later. Meanwhile, Uruguay beat Paraguay 1-0. AP

Mbappe apologises for shootout miss

Bucharest: France forward Kylian Mbappe has apologised for missing the decisive spot kick in the shootout loss to Switzerland. Mbappe said France were “incredibly sad” after exiting the tournament and that his miss would keep him awake at night. “I’m sorry about this penalty. I wanted to help the team but I failed,” Mbappe wrote on Instagram, adding: “It’s going to be hard to sleep after this, but unfortunately these are the ups and downs of this sport that I love so much.”

1France coach Didier Deschamps missed out on becoming the first man to win World Cup and Euro titles both as a player and a coach

83 Years since Switzerland’s first knockout stage victory at a tournament. Last was in 1938. This is also the first time they have made the last-eight since the 1954 World Cup

Frank de Boer quits as Netherlands coach

AMSTERDAM:Netherlands coach Frank de Boer has resigned, two days after his side were beaten 2-0 by the Czech Republic and eliminated in the last-16. It came after an evaluation of the team’s performance that followed the defeat in Budapest, where the Dutch had been expected to win.