England vs Slovakia Preview

England will look to extend their stay in Germany beyond this weekend when they face Slovakia in the Round of 16 of the 2024 European Championship on Sunday.

The Three Lions booked their place in this round after finishing top of their group with one win and two draws. Their performance in the group stages has led to much criticism of their coach, Gareth Southgate. Yet, England boasts one of the best defences in Germany this year having conceded the least xG in the group. So, it’s not all doom for the Three Lions, though they must do better in attack to overcome Slovakia.

Both sides have become familiar foes since the turn of the millennium with England’s dominant record in those six H2Hs (W5, D1) seemingly leaving them well-placed to book their spot in the quarter-finals. Amid wide comparisons to 2016-a tournament in which these two sides played out a goalless draw in the group stage- England would be smart not to look too far ahead as they were dumped out at this very stage by Iceland.

Meanwhile, Slovakia narrowly qualified for this stage of the tournament after finishing third in their group. Yet finishing third was not due to lack of effort as Slovakia scored four points (W1, D1, L1), scoring even more goals than England (3).

So this won’t be a game that frightens Slovakia who have already taken one huge scalp in Euro 2024 by beating a Belgium side ranked higher than England 1-0 in their group opener. They now travel to Gelsenkirchen for the first time in this tournament chasing a first-ever win against England.