The England team was one of the biggest disappointments of the group stage at the European Championship. Gareth Southgate’s team, although they took first place in their four, left a depressing impression with their play. Having superstars of world football in their squad, the Englishmen acted at the level of a team from the lower club divisions. The players and coaching staff were subjected to a lot of criticism, which should have been compensated by at least a victory in the match against Slovakia and reaching the quarterfinals. And ideally with quality football.

England’s disaster at the start

Southgate, like a true conservative coach, fielded a very predictable lineup that evening. However, he can hardly be blamed for this, since all the best forces of the country were sent into battle. As for the Slovaks, Francesco Calzona’s team emerged from a very difficult group with Belgium, Romania and Ukraine. The victory over the powerful Belgians was noteworthy, so the England team should definitely take a closer look at the strength of the Slovaks.

The last time the teams met was in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Then, England beat Slovakia twice in the qualifiers, but both victories were incredibly difficult. First, it was 1:0 in Trnava with the decisive goal in the 90+5th minute, and then 2:1 in London at Wembley, where England had to fight back.

And so at EURO 2024, the start of the playoff match was entirely in the hands of the Slovaks. Let’s start with the fact that by the seventh minute of the first half, the English managed to earn two yellow cards. And they could easily have missed a goal between these two events. Haraslin flew down the left flank and rolled it into the penalty area to Hantzko. He sent the ball to the far post, where Schranz just missed it. It was very close.

A similar attack was successful for the Slovakian team in the 12th minute, when the same Haraslin simply destroyed Kyle Walker on the flank, ran into the penalty area and was about to send the ball into the far corner, but Mark Guehi saved the Englishmen. Another 10 minutes passed, and the Slovaks finally scored! Kucka fought well in the air and passed it to Strelets. David had the opportunity to pass the ball both to the right and to the left. He paused for a moment and rolled it to Schranz, who beautifully beat Pickford – 1:0.

It is curious that in this episode, Guei, who already had a yellow card, openly fouled Schranz. If Ivan had fallen, it would have been a guaranteed penalty and the sending off of the English defender. Nevertheless, the Slovak forward preferred to stay on his feet and scored his third goal at this European Championship.

It must be admitted that it was absolutely logical. The England team suffered a complete disaster in the first half. After the goal conceded, Southgate’s team began to act more actively, but it was clearly not enough. The Slovaks confidently dealt with the English in defense, because they simply could not come up with anything creative. Thus, before the second half of the match, one of the main favorites of the tournament found itself on the brink of the abyss.

Ivan Schranz / Photo: © James Gill — Danehouse / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Bellingham saved England from disgrace

During the break, the coaches of both teams did not make any substitutions. If in the case of the Slovaks this was understandable and logical, then the actions of the England team on the field clearly required changes from Southgate. Nevertheless, Gareth stubbornly believed in the starting lineup. The English carried out an excellent attack in the 50th minute. Kane received a pass from Saka and sent Trippier through with a brilliant pass. Kieran could have easily shot himself, but he decided to pass to an empty goal to Phil Foden, who equalized the score in the match.

Everything would have been fine, but the referee very quickly cancelled the goal. After watching the replay, it became obvious that Foden was in an offside position when Trippier passed. So the England team had to start all over again. And then the Slovaks could have scored a second. A monstrous confusion between Walker and Stones during a free kick in the center of the field led to Strelets throwing the ball over the collar of Pickford, who had just come out of the goal. It seemed that the ball was flying straight into the corner, but David was almost unlucky.

Meanwhile, there were just over 20 minutes left in regulation time, and Slovakia was still leading. And who could say that it was not right? In those seconds, Southgate suddenly remembered that substitutions are allowed in football. And that was due to Trippier’s injury, with Palmer coming on instead. It’s funny that the substitutions resulted in forward Saka dropping to the flank of defense instead of Kieran. Not the kind of creativity that was expected from England.

The entire game of Southgate’s team was reduced to throws into the penalty area, most of which the Slovaks easily dealt with. Although in the 78th minute they still missed Kane, who headed from a simply killer position, but managed to miss the target. This was, perhaps, the best moment of the English in the entire match. Soon Rice shot from a distance, but hit the post. Southgate’s team finally decided to join the game 10 minutes before the end. Was it too late? It turned out not. In the fifth minute of added time, Bellingham leveled the score with an overhead kick – 1:1. If anyone could save England from disgrace, it was Jude, who had an outstanding season at Real.

Jude Bellingham / Photo: © Chris Brunskill/Fantasista / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Southgate wins but is he a EURO favourite?

As often happens in such situations, after a missed goal in the last seconds of extra time, the team has neither moral nor physical strength left. The Englishmen skillfully took advantage of this literally immediately after the break, when Kane sent the ball from the goal area into the net of Dubravka – 2:1. A strong team after such a thing simply finishes off the opponent, but England is a special story.

Southgate’s team, instead of attacking the clearly tired Slovaks, gave them the initiative. And they could have even conceded at the end of the first extra time, when Pekarík shot wide from an excellent position. The English eventually brought the match to victory and advanced to the quarter-finals, where they will play against Switzerland. They did not manage to disgrace themselves today, but with such a game and attitude to the matter, they have every opportunity to do so in the very near future.

In the EURO quarter-finals, the English will play against Switzerland in Dusseldorf on July 6. Watch the live broadcast of the England vs. Switzerland match on the Match TV channel from 18:45 Moscow time. You can also follow the match on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.