Head-to-head info
These two sides have met six times in total since 2002. As you could imagine, England has been the more dominant team, winning five of those meetings. The other one finished level. The Three Lions beat Slovakia in back-to-back games in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. However, both of those fixtures were decided by just one goal. Given England’s inconsistency in front of goal, that may be the case again on Sunday.
England
Heading into Euro 2024 as a surefire contender, England has not lived up to the expectations. Despite having such a talented squad, they’ve struggled to hit the back of the net, scoring a mere two goals in the group stages. Aside from the win over the Serbs, the Three Lions settled for a point against both Denmark and Slovenia. Manager Gareth Southgate has received his fair share of criticism for how he’s handled his players, most notably giving Chelsea standout Cole Palmer minimal playing time.
England has now won just two of their last eight matches across all competitions, which isn’t exactly going to instill confidence in achieving their goal of bringing the trophy back home. In fact, supporters weren’t happy after they failed to beat Slovenia last week. Aside from Palmer, it would be wise for Southgate to also give Kobbie Mainoo more minutes after his breakout campaign at Manchester United.
While the Three Lions’ solid record against Slovakia is a reason for optimism, they did draw with them at Euro 2016 in the group stages. That result won’t be good enough this time around and the last thing England wants to do against a inferior side is go to penalties because anything can happen. Southgate’s men are a -278 favorite on Sunday at Bodog.
Slovakia
Being in the Euros is not a common occurrence for Slovakia. But, in recent years, they’ve started to improve, making the last three tournaments. While the Slovakians have never won more than one game at the prestigious event, they did shock Kevin De Bruyne and Belgium on matchday one courtesy of a Ivan Schranz goal early in the first half. Although a loss to Ukraine and draw with Romania followed, that victory over the Red Devils proved to be enough to see them through to the last 16 for the second time in the last eight years.
From an attacking standpoint, Slovakia has improved a ton compared to past tournaments.In three matches, they had 37 shots and 13 found the target. Euro 2020? A mere two shots on target. There is some talent in the squad with notable names such as Milan Skriniar, Tomas Suslov, and keeper Martin Dubrovka, among others.
Yes, Slovakia heads in as a huge underdog in the Round of 16 at all soccer betting sites, but anything is possible. And as previously mentioned, England is no stranger to being upset in the Euros. The Slovakians have nothing to lose on Sunday and everything to gain.
