- Kobbie Mainoo gets first-team chance at Euro 2024
- Slovakia played well throughout the game before conceding a late goal from Jude Bellingham to seal the win.
- Harry Kane scored the winner to make it 2-1 after extra time and send England into the last eight.
England and Southgate remain the same..
Before the match started, it was not difficult to guess which 11 players Gareth Southgate would send to play as the starting line-up. It was not wrong. Only Cobbie Mainoo started as the starting line-up. The rest were the same in every respect.
The saying that if we do the same thing, the results will be the same does not seem to be an exaggeration. The England national team still plays in agony even though they have been through 3 matches in this tournament. The three attackers Foden, Bellingham, and Saka still do not coordinate well. The defense also seemed to be under obvious pressure, causing many mistakes. Before being taken ahead in the 25th minute, it made things even more difficult. Surprisingly,
Gareth Southgate took almost an hour before he started to adjust the players to the way they should have been for a long time. Cole Palmer came on, Saka moved to the left, followed by Eberichi Ese and Ivan Toney. Before the match started, fans and media around the world tried to give advice on what Southgate should do new things. But with determination (or stubborn) The England national team coach chose not to listen, until he finally had to give in because the plan he thought was the best could not continue. The result was that the playing style clearly improved.
Slovakia’s opening goal
Since the referee blew the whistle to start the match, it is true that England had the majority of the ball possession, but the attacking threat was nonexistent. The Three Lions players took 2-5 seconds to make a single pass like untrained players. On the other hand, although Slovakia had fewer chances to control the ball, they came out strong and focused on every ball, causing quite a bit of confusion for the England players, to the point of receiving 3 yellow cards in the first 30 minutes of the game.
Then, in the 24th minute, Slovakia used a long ball from the back area to kick to David Strelek, who beautifully got the ball down from his teammate’s header. He then pulled the ball back a little and passed it to Ivan Schranz, who broke away and scored with his back foot with great precision. They only had 2 chances to pass the ball in the opponent’s half before sending the ball into the back of the net. This is a quality goal-scoring game that England should definitely follow.
Cobby Minoo passed the exam
After searching for a replacement for “Kalvin Phillips” for many matches, it seems that Gareth Southgate has finally ended his problems in the midfield when Kobbie Mainoo, a 19-year-old youngster from Manchester United, came down to control the midfield smoothly after getting the opportunity to play as a starter for the first time in Euro 2024.
Mainoo has played a clear part in England’s offensive game more than Conor Gallagher and Trent Alexander-Arnold. He is not only a reliable passer for the ทางเข้า ufabet https://ufabet999.app team, but also has the rhythm to dribble the ball up to the edge of the penalty area, which can make a difference in such an awkward game. His personal statistics are
also interesting, with 2 chances to shoot, 1 chance created, 1 aerial duel won, 1 dribble, 1 successful foul, 1 successful tackle, and 95.6 percent accurate passes. It looks like he will have a chance to play as a starter for a long time if Southgate doesn’t come up with any strange formulas again.
Jude’s last-minute breather and Harry Kane’s winner
Throughout the game, Jude Bellingham tried hard to step up and lead the attack for the England national team. It must be admitted that he did impressively. Jude, who knew that his form had dropped in the past 2 games, tried to run more and adjusted his play until he was involved in the game a lot today. He was the heart of both the attack and defense of England.
Interesting statistics are Jude, the player who dribbled the ball past the opponents the second most (3 times) and also drew 3 fouls, the most in the game. In defense, Jude also made the most successful tackles on the team with 4 times. Before he emphasized his greatness by doing a somersault shot in the 90+4 minute to give the Three Lions a breath of life to stay in the game and successfully turn the game around.
As for Harry Kane, today he still did not make the most of his chances. Throughout the 90 minutes, Harry Kane had 4 chances to shoot but could not control the ball on target. Of course, if Kane had managed to put the ball in the back of the net, England fans might not have had to sit on their toes until the last second.
However, the 30-year-old striker made amends with his fifth chance, which was a beautiful header from Ivan Toney that Kane then headed home to turn the game around and send England into the quarter-finals.
Winner in 90 minutes..
It would be unfair to talk only about England’s headaches because today, Slovakia fought with all their hearts and souls. If we only count the 90-minute game, they were the undeniable winners. Since the first half kickoff, Slovakia’s players played according to Francesco Calzona’s plan. Plus, scoring the first goal before the half-hour made the situation even more in their favor. Unfortunately,
in the real world, football is not played for only 90 minutes. Playing defensively and running and pressing throughout the game made the legs of Slovakia’s players tired all the time. Until they conceded a goal in the last minute, taking away a beautiful victory just 1 minute before the end of the game.
After that, Slovakia, whose tactics were adjusted to play a full defensive game, could not compete with England, who had a more prepared squad. It was a pity but a proud moment for Slovakia in Euro 2024.