England was the most criticised team of the tournament. Although they qualified for the round of 16 as group winners, the British media and pundits mercilessly criticised the Lions, as well as their coach Gareth Southgate. And there is a reason for this: with the most expensive squad at the Euro (1.52 billion euros – the total transfer cost of all English footballers), a luxurious attacking line, the “red and white” do not show the football that was expected of them.
The main complaint against Southgate was that his team lacked creativity up front. Two goals in three group games is a failure. However, Gareth himself thought differently and honestly did not understand why his team was being criticised.
– There is a certain amount of confusion surrounding me. I have not seen another team go further and receive such treatment. I am not thinking about a possible resignation. “I want to stay in Germany for two more weeks,” Southgate said before the match against the Slovaks.
The English came close to defeat, but a super goal from the world’s most expensive player, Jude Bellingham, sent the match into extra time, and then Harry Kane scored
The curious thing is that even after a failed group game, some analysts continued to consider England as one of the favourites for the Euros. The well-known statistics portal Opta traditionally makes forecasts for major sporting events. Before the start of Euro 2024, a supercomputer simulated the tournament in Germany 10,000 times and published the main contenders for gold. After the group stage, experts disturbed the artificial intelligence again and the situation changed, except for one prediction: the supercomputer continued to insist that England would take the Cup. At the same time, according to the results of a survey among Lions fans, only 20 percent of them believed in the triumph of Southgate’s charges.
“When we looked at Southgate before the Euros, we saw that he was very confident. When Gareth spoke to people and looked at journalists, there was a sense of authority in his words. Now Southgate says: ‘Something is wrong here.’ The manager looks down, something is wrong. “I really sympathise with him,” shared former Arsenal striker Ian Wright.
Unlike their opponents, the Slovaks went into the round of 16 match in excellent spirits. For the second time in their history, the team made it to the playoffs of a major competition, managing to advance from a group that also included Romania, Belgium and Ukraine.
– Our strength is modesty. The boys must concentrate on the game and follow the tactical instructions that we will give them before the game against England. Maybe Slovakia is calmer because we are not favorites. However, in no case will the team enter the field with a defeatist attitude. We want to act aggressively, go on the attack. It doesn’t matter who faces us,” admitted Slovak coach Francesco Calzona before the match.
One of the veterans of the national team, Peter Pekarik, echoed Calzone. “We achieved the first objective: we made it to the playoffs. We understand perfectly who we have to play against. The English were finalists of the previous European Championship, everyone knows the class of this team. Against such an opponent, we all have to show even more of what we can do, we have to go beyond our limits,” Pekarik is sure.
The first half of the match in Gelsenkirchen was very intense and tough: Turkish referee Khalil Meler showed up to five yellow cards before the break. Despite the obvious class difference, the Slovaks had the advantage in the opening minutes. It is not surprising that they were the ones who opened the scoring: Ivan Shrants did it. An interesting point: during the entire last season, Schranz scored only two goals for the Czech team Slavia, and in the European Championship he already scored three. As for the English, they tried to create a threat against Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka after set pieces. Throughout the match, Southgate’s team had not shown anything remarkable in previous matches, and in this one they clearly did not please their fans. By the way, Lions fans booed Southgate when the teams were announced.
The English equalised early in the second half, but Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden’s goal was ruled out for offside.
Towards the end of the match, the English began to cross the opponent’s area more frequently and still achieved their goal: in the fifth minute of additional time, Bellingham hit Dubravka’s goal with a spectacular shot from above and sent the match to the end. extension. 1:1.
Already at the beginning of extra time, the British, thanks to the efforts of the team captain, Bayern striker Harry Kane, who set the record for official matches for his team (97 matches), achieved a 2-1 victory. Switzerland will await Southgate’s team in the quarterfinals. It should be noted that previously the paths of these teams crossed 31 times and 22 times the “lions” were stronger. The last time the Swiss beat the British was in 1981.
