Title contenders England disappoint again in their third European Championship match, but as group winners avoid a clash with hosts Germany. The days leading up to the round of 16 are unlikely to get any quieter.
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- The English national football team qualifies for the round of 16 of the European Championship as group winners.
- However, because the English are playing unattractively and have only scored two goals, there is harsh criticism from the local media.
- The focus of the criticism is coach Gareth Southgate, who was even pelted with beer cups by fans after the game.
The England national team is bracing itself for further criticism from home after the poor 0-0 draw against Slovenia. "I can understand the fans' frustration that we didn't take our chances. But that's football. It's never an easy game," said defender John Stones late on Tuesday evening in Cologne.
With just two goals scored, the Three Lions progressed to the knockout phase as group winners. The round of 16 will take place on Sunday (18:00) against a third-placed team in Gelsenkirchen.
"It was hard to watch"
1:0 against Serbia, 1:1 against Denmark and now 0:0 against Slovenia, the results were still the best thing about England's preliminary round. "Finishing top of the group and controlling our own destiny was our aim. I feel we played much better this time than in the other two matches," said captain Harry Kane. Former professional Gary Neville only partially agreed and criticized the weak first half. "It was really hard to watch," said Neville.
The BBC spoke of "another poor performance" and that the performance was once again "not good enough to justify England's status as tournament favorites". The Sun newspaper described the performance against Slovenia as "uninspired. Gareth Southgate has the best players in the Premier League, Bundesliga and Spanish league at his disposal. And yet England couldn't beat a team ranked 57th in the world."
Southgate sees encouraging signs
National coach Gareth Southgate in particular, who only made one change to the starting eleven despite a poor performance, is likely to come under further attack from the media and pundits. The ex-professional emphasized that "our primary goal was to qualify for the next round, the second goal was to win the group". Southgate noted that they had achieved both, and also saw "encouraging signs".
"The final pass to complete our actions successfully is still missing. But they were steps in the right direction. The goals will come," Southgate is convinced. "I'm very happy to be here," he said, concluding with the prospect of further criticism of himself: "We will only be successful if we stick together. My job is to lead the team through this process, make the most of it and stay the course."
Beer cups instead of applause
Southgate is also currently receiving little support from the England fans. After the game against Slovenia, the coach made his way to his own supporters to thank them for their support. He did not receive any applause, however, but was pelted with beer cups.
It is still unclear who England will meet in the round of 16 as group winners - it will certainly be a third-placed team. In a possible quarter-final, they would face the winner of the match between Switzerland and Italy.
