A spot shootout went to England and they won. In case you missed it, England won the penalty shootout. They are now in the semifinals of the European Championship because of it. It doesn’t quite get rid of the pain of losing to Italy in the final of this game three years ago, but for now, it’ll do. They didn’t play well again, and they may have been lucky to beat Switzerland, but we’ll take that too.

All five penalties were good, and Gareth Southgate was right to bring on Trent Alexander-Arnold in extra time. Amazingly sure of himself, he hit the game-winning kick.

There was also a sweet moment of redemption for Bukayo Saka, who scored England’s goal in normal time and boldly scored with his kick after missing it in 2021. Who is the other hero? That would be goalie Jordan Pickford, who stopped Manuel Akanji from taking Switzerland’s first penalty and then dove low to his left to stop it.

So, England goes to Dortmund on Wednesday, and this very strange campaign keeps going. After another close call, Southgate’s time as manager was almost over. It would have been 100 and out for him, but he keeps fighting.

He will be asked about giving the Swiss the upper hand by delaying his replacements until after they had already taken the lead.

He will have to deal with more problems because he is reactive rather than strategic. He is there, though. He keeps going, and he was among the crowds celebrating when the game was over. Please be kind to the guy. He has a huge amount of resolve that he shares with his team. Please stop being so negative for a while.

Before the shootout, Queen’s “Under Pressure” was played over the loudspeakers. That felt a little mean, but it didn’t hurt England. They missed three of their kicks against Italy in the last Euros final, but they were always going to make this one. Even though they aren’t playing that way, they were very well prepared.

The Swiss were always going to be tough, and it turned out to be true because they beat the winners in the last round. Even though they hit the post late in extra time, they will think they had the better chances and won. Don’t forget how important it is for England to stick together and have grit. Until Southgate came along, England’s performance was often hampered by flakiness and a lack of confidence.

That was a lot of debt to Saka. He was dangerous. He was the way out. He tried, but he couldn’t do it by himself. Michel Aebischer beat him up at right wing-back. In the first half, he went past him three times, and each time there was danger. On the fourth occasion, he passed the ball back to Kobbie Mainoo, who was about to score but for a crucial block by Granit Xhaka, whose shot went just wide.

But there weren’t many chances.

For the third quarterfinal in a row at this Euros, there were no goals at halftime, which showed again how close the battle was. And it was really hard to set goals.

But then the pace changed in a scary way. Though Ezri Konsa did a great job of blocking Breel Embolo’s shot, he still got it off. He also did an even better job of stopping him from making a clean header, but the Swiss were ahead. The danger signs were not paid attention to.