EM No goal against Slovenia
England, the disappointing group winners
Status: 06:15 am | Reading time: 3 minutes
Slovenia fights its way into the round of 16 against England – The highlights in the video
Slovenia fought for a surprising draw against England and moved into the round of 16 as third in the group. England disappointed again, but still secured first place in the group. The highlights in the video.
England secured victory in Group C, but also disappointed in their third game. After the draw against Slovenia, only their opponents celebrated their entry into the round of 16. Croatia was eliminated. Harry Kane reacted with purposeful optimism.
Title favorite England rumbled to group victory with another poor performance at the European Football Championship and avoided an early round of 16 clash with hosts Germany. Coach Gareth Southgate’s team could only manage a 0:0 draw against outsiders Slovenia in Cologne on Tuesday evening, but benefited from the result of the parallel match between Denmark and Serbia (0:0) to take first place in Group C. In front of 41,536 spectators, Harry Kane and Co. delivered another lethargic performance, and criticism at home is likely to increase.
With the draw, Slovenia secured third place behind Germany’s opponent Denmark and is also in the round of 16. After the same number of points and the same goal difference, the fair play rating decided in favor of the 1992 European champions with one yellow card less. As a result, Croatia can no longer advance as third in the group and is eliminated.
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The Three Lions have not yet shown any signs of being fit for the title. England will have to improve significantly before the round of 16 on Sunday (6 p.m.) in Gelsenkirchen to avoid an early defeat three years after reaching the final at Wembley. Their possible opponents are the Netherlands, who lost 2:3 to Austria earlier in the evening and slipped to third place in Group D. “We played much better than before, had more energy, but just couldn’t find the final pass. That last bit of quality in the finish was missing,” said striker Harry Kane with optimism.
“We were better with the ball than last time,” said goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. “My main goal was to keep a clean sheet. OK, we would have liked to have scored a few more goals. But we are happy with winning the group.”
England’s long chain of errors
After a few tough days with harsh criticism, coach Southgate did what he has done since taking office in 2016: He didn’t change much. With the usual white polo shirt and just one substitution – Conor Gallagher for Trent Alexander-Arnold – after the 1-1 draw against Denmark, the aim was to build momentum for the knockout phase that had been safely reached on Monday evening. But many were reminiscent of the first two botched appearances, in which only the result was right for the European Championship favorites. Jude Bellingham and John Stones made sloppy passes, and one stick error followed another. And although the clear underdog Slovenia only needed one point, coach Matjaz Kek’s team dared to go on the offensive in the face of a passive opponent. Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko (5th) missed the first opportunity with a header.
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England’s class only shone through sporadically, for example after 20 minutes: After a great combination involving Declan Rice and Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka scored what appeared to be the opening goal. But Foden had previously been clearly offside.
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Kane also had a tough time against the powerful Slovenian central defenders, his first attempts to score were blocked or caught by goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Gallagher and Kane missed a sharp cross just before half-time, which was England’s best chance. An English lead at half-time would not have been deserved after another weak 45 minutes. The performance seemed even more lackluster than in the previous games.
“We were better on the ball, completely dominated the game and also created some chances to win the match,” said Southgate. “The Slovenians hardly got out of their half. Yes, at the moment we are not quite where we want to be, but it was OK.”
Southgate then brought on youngster Kobbie Mainoo, who was clearly dissatisfied with his mini-role so far. But not much was happening on the pitch. Due to a lack of impressive attacks, the English fans even cheered loudly for every corner kick from their team, which was clearly struggling with the physical opponent. A powerful shot from Rice (73′) went just wide of the far corner.
How Slovenia celebrates its entry into the round of 16
Slovenia fought for a surprising draw against favorites England and moved into the round of 16 as third in the group. After the final whistle, the joy among fans and team was immense. See the jubilant images in the video here.
