Euro 2024: England Held by Slovenia, But Still Win Group C

England played their third and final group match of Euro 2024 earlier today, taking on Slovenia in Cologne, Germany. It was a scorching hot day in northwest Germany, so both sides knew going in this could end up being a slog. England knew that a win and possibly even a draw would see them top the group, depending on the result between Denmark vs. Serbia. England were also through to the knockout stages as of yesterday, when Albania lost to Spain. The rules around progression from the group stages are different this year, with the top two teams from each group advancing, along with the four best 3rd place teams (based on points, goal differential, and other factors). It can be kind of tricky to explain, but the main takeaway is that England had already clinched progression to the knockout stages before this match even started.

Slovenia were quick out of the blocks, and forced the first shot on goal of the match. It was a tame header from striker Benjamin Sesko though, which England keeper Jordan Pickford collected easily. England eventually got on the ball more, but when they did it was the usual harmless and tepid position that they’ve been guilty of the last two matches. No one was willing to run forward, no one was willing to pass it forward, and no one was willing to dribble a little bit and take on their defender. This lasted for about 20 minutes or so. England did have the ball in the back of the net around the 25 minute mark after a neat pass and move and from winger(?) Phil Foden and midfielder Declan Rice, which was tapped in by winger Bukayo Saka. Unfortunately, the goal was (correctly) ruled out by the linesman for offside. Foden was about half yard behind his man when Rice played him the ball. Frustrating, but that moment should have provided a formula for an England goal. When they move the ball quickly in attack, the Slovenians won’t be able to keep up.

Unfortunately, England seemed to ignore this formula and continue to play passive and slow possession that often ended up in nothing happening. On some occasions, they would lose possession in dangerous areas and allow the Slovenians to run at them. There were one or two half chances for them in the first half that made Three Lions supporters sweat more than the heat did. Make no mistake – Slovenia were not over-awed by England nor the occasion, particularly in the first half. They were well organized in defense, and keeper Jan Oblak had little to do. At halftime it was 0-0, with Slovenia surely the happier of the two sides.

England manager Gareth Southgate brought on midfielder Kobbie Mainoo at halftime for the ineffective Conor Gallagher, and after about 4 or 5 minutes, England were in possession and control of the ball a lot more. That is not solely down to Mainoo, but he certainly helped. They were still struggling to create clear chances, but they had snuffed out Slovenia’s attack for the most part. Substitute midfielder Cole Palmer and winger Anthony Gordon eventually came on, and it was these subs that were probably England’s best players on the day. Palmer got on the ball and created a half-chance for himself, after which Gordon did well to dribble at his man and create a chance. There were one or two other “good buildup but misplaced final pass” situations for England, but the match ended 0-0.

Fortunately for England, Denmark vs. Serbia also ended 0-0, so England won Group C on 5 points. Denmark finished second, with the Slovenians third. Serbia are eliminated. Group C ended up being a bit of a snoozer overall. Very few goals and a lot of 0-0 draws. England will play on next Sunday, with a likely opponent being the Netherlands, but that is not set in stone as of yet due to tomorrow’s fixtures. But by winning the group, England have avoided the fearsome quartet of Spain, Portugal, Germany, and France, all of whom are on the other side of the bracket. They cannot play any of those teams until the final.

But that is about the extent of the good news. England’s performance today was not a reassuring one for fans, not by a long shot. They failed to score for the first time this tournament against a side they should likely be scoring against. Again, the play was slow and lethargic for long portions of the match. There was very little effort from England’s players to get forward and take chances. This has to change. The system is certainly part of the problem, because it’s not allowing the players to play where they excel. I think the lack of productivity feeds into itself, because the body language of the players today was very nervous and anxious.

Southgate needs to fix this, and it needs to be fixed now. He started Gallagher in place of midfielder Trent Alexander-Arnold today, but that was the only change he made from the last match and it didn’t do anything. Bringing on Mainoo, Palmer, and Gordon was correct, but Gordon got little to no time to do anything. Foden still looks lost on the left wing. Midfielder Jude Bellingham was anonymous for the second straight match. Striker Harry Kane was dropping deep too often and not leading the line like he is supposed to. Left back Kieran Trippier needs to be dropped, too. He slows down play far too much and still acts like he has no idea Foden exists in front of him.

One potential solution would be to drop Gallagher and move Bellingham to the number 8 position, alongside Rice at the 6. That would allow Foden to move into his natural number 10 position, and Gordon can take his place on the left wing. If left back Luke Shaw ever gets himself fit, he needs to be played over Trippier. These are just a few of many ways in which this team could be improved. Most importantly of course, the manager must take the shackles off these lads. They need to be encouraged to run forward and take on players, because most of them have the natural talent to do so.

Southgate seems to have made up his mind, though. He is going to live and die by this “system” of his. Hopefully, he at least starts Mainoo, Palmer, and Gordon in the next match. We need energy and drive in this team, not passive possession. Happy to see the lads moving on and winning the group of course, but much improvement is still needed.

Three Lions on the Shirts!

England Demolish Albania, Move to Within Touching Distance of the World Cup

The international break is on for the clubs across Europe, which means that not only are England back in action, I get to take a break from writing about the very negative atmosphere in the red portion of Manchester right now.

England played their last home match of their World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign yesterday afternoon at Wembley, taking on Albania. Albania came into this match 3rd in Group I, while England were sitting firmly atop. Albania needed three points to keep any hope of making the playoff alive, while England knew that a win could potentially qualify them. That would only happen if Poland lost to Andorra though, which was a very unlikely thing to happen.

In contrast to previous matches where England got off to a slow and/or laboring start, England were at full throttle almost from the get-go. It’s very difficult to get all 11 players up and going right away usually, so to see such a fast start was welcome. England, in a resplendent blue kit, were positively flying around and passing the ball extremely well, and they were rewarded with the opening goal on just 9 minutes via a set-piece. England won a foul on the edge of the area and the free kick was taken by Chelsea right-back (today playing as a right-wingback) Reece James. He played a sublime diagonal ball over the top of the Albanian defense, where Manchester United center back (and captain) Harry Maguire met the ball with his head. He drove the ball back across the goal and into the net with Albanian keeper Thomas Strakosha beaten. He wheeled away in a celebration that perhaps indicated he was trying to silence the critics of his recent play at United. It’s true he’s had some shockers recently, but I think a goal for England is going to be good for his confidence. Maguire seems to be a confidence-driven player, and if he can start believing in himself a bit again it will be good for country and club.

It should be noted that England and Everton keeper Jordan Pickford was forced into a fine save just after the England opener, after Manchester City right-back Kyle Walker played a very poor back pass straight into the path of an Albanian striker. It ended up being a fairly tame effort on goal, but it could have easily been 1-1. However, it probably would not have mattered in the end given the eventual England onslaught.

It was only the beginning of a dream day for England and a nightmare for Albania. About 9 minutes later, England got their second via a wonderfully-worked goal down the right hand flank. James and Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson played a lovely 1-2 around the Albanian defenders, with Henderson finding himself on the ball on the right side of the box near the end line. He spotted talismanic Tottenham striker Harry Kane in the middle largely unmarked, and played a delightful chipped cross to him. Kane rose highest to the ball and nodded it deftly past Strakosha for 2-0. A good goal, but Albania were completely lost defensively. The marking was so bad that England and Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell would have also easily finished the cross had Kane not been in front of him. But a world-class striker like Kane does not miss from point-blank range. You expect a player like Kane to get into that position. Credit again though to James and Henderson for some very good build-up play.

The Three Lions smelled blood at that point and continued to pour on the pressure. It was Henderson’s turn to get on the score sheet, remarkably for only the second time in his England career. James was involved in the buildup again, with him winning a second ball from a poor Albanian defensive header in a dangerous area. He then played a short pass to Manchester City winger/forward Phil Foden, who then found Henderson about 20 yards from the box. Henderson played a sharp pass into Kane, and Kane controlled the ball beautifully. He played the ball with his heel back into the path of the onrushing Henderson, who took a very deft touch around an Albanian defender before pinging his shot into the bottom far corner of the goal. Henderson is normally a defensive midfielder, but England were dominating so well through the middle he was able to come forward and get involved with two goals. The floodgates were beginning to well and truly open and the only question was how many more England would get.

Then it was Kane time. He decided he wanted to score some more instead of providing assists. Albania gave the ball away very cheaply in midfield, and Manchester City winger/forward Raheem Sterling was allowed to run a good distance towards the goal. Kane was in front of him just off to his left. Sterling played an excellent through ball to Kane, who was being played onside by a defender fairly far away from him. He took a few touches into the left side of the box, before lashing a screamer into the far side-netting. Strakosha could do nothing about it. At 4-0 it was now over, just 33 minutes into the match.

Just for good measure, Kane secured England’s fifth and a first half hat-trick for himself a minute into stoppage time. England won a corner that was played into the box by Foden, and once again Kane was there to finish in spectacular fashion. He hit the ball on the volley with a scissor-kick, and Strakosha had no chance of keeping out a shot with such velocity on it. He saved his best finish on the day for last – falling away from the ball but still getting excellent contact with his right boot. Yes the marking was again by poor by Albania, but you can’t take anything away from Kane’s finish. It was 5-0 at halftime and if Albaia manager Edoardo Reja could have thrown in the proverbial towel, he would have.

The second half was dull in comparison, with England somewhat understandably in cruise control and not really trying all that hard to go and get another one. Albania had one or two shots on Pickford’s goal from long distance, but he was never really troubled. No more goals were scored, probably due to the substitutions, injuries, and fouls that created a very stuttered flow to the match. One notable moment was the debut of Arsenal midfielder Emile Smith Rowe, a very promising young talent that has had a great season so far for the Gunners in the middle of the park. Again, nothing much of note happened for him, but it’s always good for a young player to get time in a competitive match.

Speaking of, Kane is now England’s all time leading goal scorer in competitive football matches, overtaking Wayne Rooney. He still has not eclipsed Rooney’s overall goal scoring record for England (53), but it is almost inevitable now that he will. With his hat-trick today he is now tied with the legendary Jimmy Greaves on 44 goals. He only needs 9 to tie Rooney and 10 to overtake him, and that could happen at next winter’s World Cup in 2022. England have never had a dominant center forward such as Kane, and we have never had a man score so many important goals for us.

Southgate of course will be happy with this display, and he will be even happier that it happened without the services of players such as Declan Rice, Marcus Rashford, and Jadon Sancho. It’s again a testament to England’s strength in depth that we can put 5 goals past half-decent opposition without several extremely good players. I suppose as long as Kane is out there, that’s all we really need. When he is in the mood, I don’t think he can be stopped. Southgate promised that England would put on a show in his pre-match interviews, and his team very much delivered on that. A 6th goal in the second half would have been a nice ribbon on the gift, but not getting one is hardly grounds for complaint.

As expected, Poland did end up beating Andorra 4-1. That means England have a 3 point lead over Poland with one match left in qualifying, and therefore they only need a draw against bottom-dwellers San Marino to secure passage to World Cup 2022 as the winners of Group I. That match will happen on Monday at the Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle in San Marino. All I will say is that if we can put 5 past Albania, we should be putting 10 past San Marino. They are the lowest ranked country in FIFA’s world rankings, at 210th out of 210. They have a goal differential of -35 and have not registered a single point in 9 qualifying matches. To say that they are underdogs would be the understatement of the year. All England need is a point against the minnowest of minnows, but it would be embarrassing even to win by a small margin. Barring the miracle of all miracles, England should qualify for World Cup 2022 on Monday.

Three Lions on the shirts!

England Draw With Hungary, Match Marred by Fan Violence

England took on Hungary today at Wembley Stadium in London, in what was the 8th match out of 10 in World Cup 2022 qualification. England had already beaten Hungary 4-0 away in Budapest earlier this year, but they’re a more talented side than they appear at first and have gotten some famous results earlier this season.

The match ended 1-1, with both goals coming in the first half. Hungary took a surprising lead from the penalty spot via forward Rolland Sallai, who sent England keeper Jordan Pickford the wrong way as he slotted home. The actual penalty was earned by right back Loïc Négo, who collided with a high boot from England left back Luke Shaw just inside the box. The contact on Négo’s head was minimal, but the problem was Shaw having his boot that high up in the first place. It’s a long-established rule in football that your foot can’t be up high near the head and neck of other players, and Shaw has to know better there. He is asking for trouble with his foot that high up, and he wouldn’t have even needed to fly in like that if he was quicker to the ball. But he was lackadaisical in getting over to the bouncing loose ball, and Négo put him under pressure to make a clearance. Unfortunately, he did not clear the ball effectively.

England did get an equalizer 13 minutes later, having put their foot fully down on the gas pedal after the Hungary goal. The tying goal was courtesy of three Manchester City players – Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, and John Stones. Grealish was probably England’s best attacking player the whole match, and he won a foul in the right channel after some of his trademark nifty dribbling. Foden stood over the dead ball and delivered a very dangerous diagonal cross into the box. It was met at the far post by Stones, who simply stuck his foot out and the ball bounced off him and into the net. Wembley erupted in celebration, and it was great to see England scoring from a set piece.

The Three Lions had the better of the chances and the majority of the possession for the rest of the half and indeed the rest of the game, but they could not put the ball past Hungarian keeper Péter Gulácsi. He made several fine saves on Raheem Sterling, but overall the credit must go to Hungary manager Marco Rossi for his tactical set-up. They were in a 5-3-2 and set up very compact, making it hard to break them down. They also pressed England at precisely the right times, and England admittedly lacked ideas in terms of creating chances. I applaud Gareth Southgate for realizing that his initial tactical set-up was wrong and actually making substitutions, but today the problem was that he made the wrong substitution. Bringing on Bukayo Saka for Grealish was mystifying when both Sterling and Harry Kane were far more ineffective. Saka needed to come on, but not for Grealish. He was the only one really running at the Hungary back line, so to take him off almost did them a favor. It was just an overall disappointing performance on the pitch, but credit to the Hungarians for playing well and forcing England to stumble slightly on their path to World Cup 2022.

England are still atop Group I, but their lead has narrowed to 3 points after Poland’s victory over Albania. England have a massive game against Albania in a month, and the last one is against minnows San Marino. Win either of those, England are virtually in. Ideally they would take 3 points in both games, and they will indeed need to be better than they were today against a highly-motivated Albanian team.

******

Unfortunately, the first 10-15 minutes of this match were marred by clashes between the London Metropolitan Police and some of the Hungarian supporters inside the stadium. I normally am not one to defend the police, but there is a section of the Hungarian supporters that are absolute knobheads. They held up a banner protesting the England players kneeling before the opening whistle, and were jeering loudly when one of England’s Black players touched the ball. Absolute racist bastards and the images of them throwing punches at the police were disgusting to watch. It seems the police eventually got the situation under control and at least one arrest was made, but I couldn’t believe just how brazen the actions were of those few dozen supporters. I know for a fact that not all Hungarians are racist hooligans, but that loud minority of them is very loud indeed.

Which begs the question: where is UEFA on this? Why has the Hungarian FA even been allotted tickets for their supporters at this match? There is supposed to be a ban on fan attendance at their home matches for this exact sort of behavior the last time England played Hungary, so why are they allowed in our stadium? It’s this sort of thing that makes the whole “Say No to Racism” campaign feel hollow and frankly fake. When actual racist incidents happen, UEFA does nothing about them and leaves it up to the local authorities to sort out the shitheads. Hey UEFA, fucking punish this kind of conduct! Lifetime bans for fans who engage in racist conduct. Points deductions from teams if fans engage in racist conduct. I understand that England is not free from sin in this department, so these rules would apply to our fans as well. The fans also must self-police more effectively and call out racist conduct when they see it! I’m fed up with this behavior and it needs to stop.

England Demolish Andorra, One Step Closer to WC 2022

England travelled to Andorra la Vella, Andorra yesterday for the first match of two in this international break. England were heavy favorites going in, and frankly it would have taken divine intervention for Andorra to get anything out of this. Going off the previous result, it’s abundantly clear that England’s players are bigger, stronger, and faster than the Andorrans. It’s really that simple, in this situation. Andorra would have to defend like their lives depended on it to get anything out of this match. It was interesting to see Andorra’s new national stadium, Estadio Nacional. To give you some perspective on how tiny Andorra is, the capacity for their national stadium is only about 3,000. Even more stunning is the fact that the population of Andorra is about 77,000 when the capacity of Wembley in London is 90,000. You could fit the entire population of Andorra inside Wembley Stadium if you needed to, with room to spare.

Things got off to a slow start for England but they were dominant in possession at least from the get-go. A lot of the normal first-choice players were not in the side. Frankly, you don’t need a Harry Kane or Raheem Sterling to win a match like this. Well, you shouldn’t at least. England had deployed forward/winger Phil Foden in holding midfield, a decision from manager Gareth Southgate I initially questioned as that is not his natural position. However, it was the correct decision as Foden was under instruction to use his range of passing to play balls in behind the Andorra defense on the left side. He consistently found free runners in the box and it was the key to the breakthrough goal on 18 minutes. Foden found Jadon Sancho in space in the box, having made a cleverly-timed run into the box. Sancho had his back to goal when he received it, but it played it to Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell who casually slotted home for his first England goal. The goal was initially ruled out for offside, but after a VAR review it was determined that Sancho was level when he made his initial run into the box.

Despite scoring, Andorra failed to address the issue of Foden playing long diagonal passes into the box. I am not sure what they could have done to address it, but they simply could not handle Foden’s passing. Utterly devastating to them. England’s second goal on 40 minutes was also set-up by Foden, who played a straighter pass this time to Arsenal winger/forward Bukayo Saka in the box. The first touch was excellent from Saka and he blasted the ball into the roof of the net past Andorra keeper Josep Gomes with his second touch. Despite still being in the first half, this match was already close to over. It was only a question of how many England would win by. Andorra offered nothing to test deputy England keeper Sam Johnstone.

While the half ended without any further goals, the yellow cards piling up for England were somewhat concerning. I questioned the legitimacy of some of them, but there was no need for England to fly into tackles recklessly. I like being competitive and I like playing with desire no matter the opponent, but those two traits can’t get in the way of common sense. I normally slag off the referee when they don’t do well, but I think the all-female referee crew led by Kateryna Monzul did fairly well in the match. I only mention her gender because she was the first woman ever to referee an England match. Well done to her and her crew, one or two decisions notwithstanding.

England’s dominance continued in the second half with goal no. 3 coming on 58 minutes. Tammy Abraham was tasked with leading the forward line in this match, and it could be said he was somewhat wasteful in the first half, having scuffed a good chance off the post. But he made no mistake with this chance. Sancho found himself on the ball in the left channel, with only one man marking him. The marker gave him too much space, so he hit a cross into the box aimed generally at Abraham. Abraham made a nifty little run that left his marker in the dust, after which he got just enough of a touch on the ball to guide it into the net. Abraham has found a resurgence of form under Jose Mourinho at Roma, and it was nice to see him get on the scoresheet today. He probably will not be unseating Kane as the starting forward any time soon, but strength in depth is key for any side.

The Andorrans became more feisty after that, and really they were lucky to escape the match with all 11 players still on the pitch. England got their fourth due to this lack of discipline. Substitute forward Jack Grealish was brought down in the box, and Monzul decisively awarded a penalty. No question about it, despite a brief VAR review. Kane was not on the pitch, so Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse stepped up to take it. His initial shot was too close to Gomes and he produced a fine save, but Ward-Prowse was quickest to the rebound and he blasted it home from close range.

Andorra’s misery was further compounded about 10 minutes later. Johnstone collected a wary cross into his own area, after which he spotted Grealish streaking toward the opposite goal near the half-way line. Johnstone then produced an NFL quarterback-like throw directly into the path of Grealish, who carried the ball through the Andorra half. His dribbling prowess was on full display as he rode challenges all the way. He eventually got close enough and slotted the ball into the goal low and away to the keeper’s right. Andorra should have done better to get a tackle in, but you could see the fatigue in their legs and Grealish is simply just too good on the ball.

There were several points in this match where I almost felt sorry for Andorra. The gulf in class is just absolutely massive and it’s borderline unfair to them. I still think that how qualification is handled regarding these smaller countries needs to be re-evaluated by UEFA. If you want one of these smaller countries to have a shot at qualifying, they need to play in their own group. Feeding minnows like Andorra and San Marino to the likes of England and Poland is tantamount to lambs at the abattoir.

You could make a case for Sancho or Grealish being Man of the Match, but realistically it was Phil Foden. He was unstoppable in midfield all day and will give Southgate food for thought in future matches. England finished the match 5-0, and are now 4 points clear of second-place Albania in Group I. England have scored more goals in this WC qualifying campaign than the previous one, and we still have 3 matches left to play. All attention now turns to Hungary on Tuesday at Wembley. I expect more of the usual starters to play, as three points against the Hungarians all-but-qualifies England for 2022. If we win, then at worst we would have a four point lead with only 6 available points remaining.

Three Lions on the Shirts!