Dire draw puts pressure on Southgate

COLOGNE, Germany — Top of the group, unbeaten and on the favorable side of the draw for the knockout phase of Euro 2024. It's a case of job done for England at this stage of the tournament.

Try telling that to the fans, who jeered loudly and threw beer cups as the final whistle blew on a 0-0 draw with Slovenia at Cologne Stadium on Tuesday.

Criticism of England's performances in Germany has been fierce.

"I've not seen any team qualify and receive similar," manager Gareth Southgate said.

Southgate believes he and his England team could be paying the price for its success under his leadership. Safe passage through to the round of 16 maintains his personal record of advancing from the group stage of every major tournament he's taken charge of, dating back to the World Cup in 2018.

"I think probably expectation (is different). Over the last six or seven years, we've made England fun again. I think it has been enjoyable for the players," Southgate said. "We've got to be very, very careful that it stays that way."

England hasn't been fun to watch at these Euros, though, with a 1-0 win against Serbia its only victory in Group C. That was followed by a 1-1 draw with Denmark and the scoreless draw with Slovenia.

Three games, two goals and a whole lot of underwhelmed fans.

The performance against Denmark was apparently so uninspired that former captain and now BBC presenter Gary Lineker used an expletive to describe it. And, despite claiming he was "oblivious" to Lineker's stinging critique, it contributed to the "unusual environment "Southgate said he was working in at this tournament.

The atmosphere was hardly helped by plastic beer cups being thrown on the field as Southgate and his players went to applaud England supporters after the match.

"I'm not going to back down from going over and thanking the fans, who were brilliant during the game," he said. "They might feel differently towards me. But for me, we only will succeed if we are together."

Southgate led England to the semifinals of the World Cup in 2018 and the final of the last Euros, but his team will likely need a sharp upturn in form if it is to live up to its pre-tournament billing as one of the favorites for the European title.

Still, England has at least ended up on the opposite side of the draw to Spain, France, Germany and Portugal and will play one of the best third-place teams in the next round after advancing as group winner.

"That was the aim before the start of the tournament. Come top of the group and control our destiny," captain Harry Kane said.

The result also meant Slovenia reached the round of 16 for the first time and Croatia was eliminated.

"We are such a small country, with such a big heart and mental strength. That's why I'm very proud of my team," coach Matjaz Kek said. "This is only the beginning of a new and beautiful era for Slovenian football."

While it was a proud night for Slovenians, it was another performance that highlighted England's attacking issues, with substitute Cole Palmer coming closest to scoring a winner in stoppage time.

"You can't go into every game with such pressure and score four goals. Football doesn't work like that," Southgate said. "It is important to win the group to control your own destiny."

Southgate's men can perhaps take some measure of comfort from recent history. They were terrible in a 0-0 draw with Scotland in the group stage three years ago before going on to finish runner-up to Italy at Euro 2020.

"You never want to look back having not topped the group and spiral into tough matches where people can then accuse you that, because you didn't win the group then you've ended up with a tougher draw," Southgate said.

On the plus side for England, which is unbeaten in its last 14 European Championship group stage matches going back to a 2-1 loss to France in 2004, it has wound up on the opposite side of the knockout draw to the other tournament favorites.

Slovenian celebrations

It took 20 minutes for England to pose a serious threat, and only the offside flag denied it a slick opening goal.

Declan Rice picked out Phil Foden's run, but the Manchester City midfielder had strayed beyond the Slovenian defense before squaring for Bukayo Saka to tap in.

Southgate took action at the break, and Conor Gallagher was replaced by Kobbie Mainoo.

The 19-year-old added some much needed thrust to the England midfield, but it still struggled to turn dominance in possession into chances.

Kane saw a header cleared by Benjamin Sesko from a corner and Rice flashed a shot wide from the edge of the box.

Southgate answered the call to give Cole Palmer his first outing at the tournament in the final 20 minutes.

The Chelsea midfielder, who scored 26 goals at club level this season, had England's only shot on target of the second half, but failed to seriously test veteran goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

A point was jubilantly celebrated by the Slovenians, as it was enough for them to progress as one of the best third-placed sides thanks to three draws from their three games.

Kek's men missed out on second place in the group solely due to Denmark's better disciplinary record.

"I didn't expect to be going into the knockout phase," said Kek.

"But, we showed with our play against one of the favorites for the tournament that we deserve to be here and to go into the knockouts."

Agencies