There’s pressure on England coming into their final Group C game of Euro 2024 against Slovenia. Avoiding defeat will secure their progression to the knockout phase, as would Denmark’s failure to beat Serbia, however, their tame performances in the opening two matches against Serbia (1-0) and the Danes (1-1) have led to heavy criticism of manager Gareth Southgate.
The biggest issue has been disjointed attacking performances from the Three Lions, and it’s been a recurring theme across their recent displays, even prior to this summer’s tournament. They haven’t scored more than a single goal in any of their past three international matches, while they’ve only netted more than once in two of the last seven fixtures. Recent H2H history doesn’t hint that will change here either, with just one goal scored in total between these two nations in the last two clashes back in 2016 and 2017 (W1, D1).
Although two points worse off than their opposition, the mood in the Slovenia camp is much different after two draws have left them with more than a fighting chance of making it to the knockout phase in what is their first European Championship finals appearance in 24 years. They were denied their first-ever win in the tournament last time out as Serbia netted an equaliser deep into stoppage time (1-1), but that draw still extended their undefeated run to an impressive eight matches (W4, D4).
While England will represent much stiffer competition than what they’ve faced at the tournament so far, Slovenia have shown that they can compete with some of the best. Since the turn of the year, they’ve beaten two nations also ranked inside FIFA’s top 11 sides in the form of the USA and Portugal, and perhaps poignantly given England’s attacking woes, they secured a clean sheet in each too.
Players to watch: Ollie Watkins was called upon to replace England captain Harry Kane last time out with 20 minutes of the game still to go. He looked sharp, and after registering 32 Premier League goal contributions this season for Aston Villa, might be called upon again here. Forward Andraž Šporar, who netted in Slovenia’s final warm-up game before the tournament, played 35 times for English side Middlesbrough in 2021/22 and has seen three of his last four international scoring appearances end level.
Hot streak: England have secured a clean sheet in each of their last three final group stage matches at a European Championship finals.
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