Slovakia looking to frustrate Southgate’s squad
Euro 2024 returned last night after a two-day break. Switzerland knocked out the reigning European champions Italy in a surprise 2-0 win whilst hosts Germany sent Denmark packing after several contentious VAR decisions.
Tonight, it’s England’s turn in the spotlight as they look to step it up a gear in the round-of-16 after a rather flat start to the tournament as they whimpered through as Group C winners despite two draws and a narrow 1-0 win.
England entered the competition as tournament favourites after cruelly missing out on Euros glory last time round as they lost the final to Italy on penalties. The tournament favourites have barely got going despite Bayern Munich talisman Harry Kane captaining the side.
Fans and pundits alike have been calling on manager Gareth Southgate to shake things up a bit and make some changes to his starting XI with Chelsea’s Cole Palmer and Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon favourites to start.
Southgate will be hopeful Jude Bellingham finds form again after a blistering start to the tournament as he netted against Serbia in the opening game but the Real Madrid midfielder seemed to go missing against Denmark and Slovenia.
England will be desperate to avoid the game going to penalties. In World Cups and European Championships, they have experienced nine penalty shootouts and only won two of those.
Meanwhile, their opponents Slovakia have appeared in three European Championships since they became independent in 1993 but have never got past the round-of-16. As Czechoslovakia they were crowned European Champions in 1976 with eight Slovaks in the starting XI.
Slovakia came third in group E, the group where all four teams scored the same amount of points. They surprised everyone when they beat Belgium 1-0 in their opening game with Slavia Prague’s striker, Ivan Schranz netting the winner. He scored again in their 2-1 defeat to Ukraine in the second game of the group stages.
Manager Francesco Calzona has made just one change so far in the tournament and is unlikely to begin experimenting now. However, striker Robert Bozenik is expected to return to the starting line-up today. Since Calzona took charge he has overseen 10 wins from 16 games.
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England face Slovakia today at 5pm on ITV1.
Later on tonight, Spain will take on Georgia. Georgia are tournament debutants and the lowest ranked side in the competition. Despite low expectations, they pulled off a spectacular win against Portugal in their final group game, a side 68 places higher than them in the FIFA rankings, to secure progression to the last 16.
Star man Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Georges Mikautadze are perhaps the Georgians best chance of overcoming the Spanish side which contains the likes of Atletico Madrid striker Avaro Morata and PSG midfielder Fabian Ruiz.
Many will no doubt be cheering for the underdogs Georgia but Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal, who became the youngest footballer to play at a European Championships at 16 years old has won over football fans around the world with his energy and charisma.
Earlier in the week, he found out he had passed his exams whilst playing for Spain but he will be hoping his summer will only get better as he seeks his first goal of the tournament.
Spain have won six of their previous seven meetings with Georgia. The two teams met in qualifying for the Euros 2024 with Spain winning 10-2 on aggregate (7-1 away and 3-1 at home) so it will take a lot for Georgia to cause another upset tonight.
Spain play Georgia tonight at 8pm on ITV1.
