For Italy, meeting Switzerland in the round of 16 will be a tough match. While many may think that Italy is the number one team, that presumption may just be based on name recognition. Based on my observations during this year's European National Finals week, every team that made it to the top 16 was very difficult and equally strong.
Of course, Italy can utilize Nicolò Valle and Zorzino Falcioli to control the game in general and the tempo of the game. They are probably the best midfielders in the team, but I must emphasize that Nicolo Fagioli had a very good game against Croatia and maybe he could be an option in this game.
Switzerland's Billet Safe Road, Danny Doyle and Sully Shakili have been very threatening in this year's European competitions, all of them going in first and second. You can't underestimate the importance of this as we've seen how many of the popular powerhouses struggle on offense, and the Italian Army has a shaky defense that concedes goals in every game, so this could potentially be the deciding factor in the win.
If I were the Italian coach, I would send two strikers to the attack and as two strikers. In the "352" battle, Lorenzo Brigittini supports the strikers. In fact, so far, Italy doesn't have a striker who can play as expected.
Finally, I'd like to remind everyone that while Italy has struggled in the group stage, they tend to have an advantage when playing the knockout stages, as we all saw in the last Europe, so I'm predicting that Italy's ability will propel Switzerland to advance.
