(Dan Tri) - The England team won 2-1 against Slovakia after 120 minutes of intense competition at RheinEnergie Stadium (Germany), thereby winning a ticket to the quarter-finals of Euro 2024.
England have never lost to Slovakia in the past, that unbeaten record continued after the match in the round of 16 of Euro 2024 which took place last night (June 30). However, the victory of England took place in an extremely difficult scenario, they even stood on the brink of being eliminated early. Slovakia played coherently and effectively than England for most of the match, at least from the beginning of the match until the 90+5 minute, when they were equalized by England. Unfortunately, Francesco Calzona's army lacked a bit of luck to create a new page in history at Euro. Slovakia played strongly against England. Slovakia entered the match against England with a thirsty style of play, England were completely surprised when they had to face the opponent's physical counter-attacks. England players continuously committed fouls to limit Slovakia's counter-attacks, which caused them to receive 2 yellow cards in just the first 7 minutes. Slovakian players also did not hesitate to commit tactical fouls to prevent counter-attacks, so the match was broken by tense fouls, 4 yellow cards were drawn by the referee in just the first 17 minutes. In the 25th minute, Slovakian players coordinated the ball quickly and Ivan Schranz rushed down and defeated Pickford with a diagonal shot to open the score. After the goal, England showed no signs of rising up. Southgate's team only had 6 shots in the first half and not one was on target. After the break, England still did not improve. In the 50th minute, Phil Foden put the ball into the Slovakian net but the goal was disallowed due to offside. England almost conceded a second goal in the 55th minute due to a very elementary mistake, a wrong pass in the middle of the field. Luckily for them, David Strelec's long-range shot went wide when the England goal was empty. In the official 45 minutes of the second half, England still had only 6 shots like the first half. The only mark of the "Three Lions" was Declan Rice's shot from outside the penalty area that hit the post in the 81st minute. Coach Gareth Southgate made his substitutions quite slowly and his tactical adjustment from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 also had no clear change. Bellingham shines to keep England's hopes alive. As the match entered its final seconds, it seemed that England would lose unexpectedly in the 5th minute of 6 minutes of added time, Jude Bellingham made an artistic hook in the center of the penalty area to score the equalizer 1-1 for England. This was England's first shot on target. Bellingham's equalizer helped England escape defeat and continue to nurture hopes of a comeback. When the extra time lasted 2 minutes, Harry Kane was in the right place to head the ball into the net after Ivan Toney's header. A somewhat lucky goal for Kane because it seemed that Toney did not have to try to assist him, it was simply an attempt to touch the ball in the penalty area by the England striker. After taking the lead 2-1, England returned to a pragmatic style of play. Slovakia seemed exhausted after 90 tense minutes, coach Calzona's team could not rise up to play close and high pressure. England successfully defended their 2-1 victory and booked a quarter-final meeting with Switzerland.
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