What we saw in Slovenia’s third match at Euro 2024: Kek’s squad neutralized England and, in their own style, etched themselves into history
Photo: UEFA
This is how history is written by the greatest. The best! After a long wait of 14 years, Slovenia has once again played on the big stage this year. And they’ve advanced to the round of 16! Rok Vodišek, a former young Slovenian national team player, provided the insights for Planet Football following Kek’s squad’s third match at the European Championship in Germany.
And we finally reached it – the last match of the Slovenian national team in the group stage of the European Championship against the football powerhouse – England. Despite the distance from Cologne, crowds of Slovenian fans once again gathered to support our boys. We all knew what this match meant. The path to glory or almost the path back home…
Photo: Vid Ponikvar / SportidaPersonally, I expected an initial pressure from the English. I was convinced that the English stars would start with full force towards our goal from the very beginning. However, they negatively surprised me at the start of the game. They seemed devoid of ideas on how to break through the Slovenian block, and indeed, for the first 20 minutes, they posed no real threat to our goal.
But it was precisely in the 20th minute that they showed how dangerous they could be. After a few accurate passes, they seemingly effortlessly came in front of our goal, where after a cross from Saka, Foden simply tapped the ball into the empty net. Fortunately for us, it turned out that Foden was in an offside position before that, so the goal did not count. Nevertheless, this action showed how dangerous the English could be and that we needed to be focused not just for 90, but 100 minutes to achieve a positive result.
The Slovenian national team stood excellently on the field, was combative and disciplined, waiting for their potential chances from counterattacks. The fact is that in the first 30 minutes, the English were dominant on the pitch, having possession of the ball for more than 70% of the playing time in the first third of the game. However, despite this, they only managed their first shot on target in the 31st minute of the match when Kane attempted from distance, but Oblak had no trouble saving it. He also dealt reliably with another attempt four minutes later, when Foden tried from a long-range free kick.
Photo: Vid Ponikvar / SportidaIn the 40th minute of the match, we held our breath for a moment. Harry Kane was just a few centimeters short of redirecting the ball into the Slovenian goal after a cross from a meter away. This was also the last notable situation in the first 45 minutes. To sum up the first half, we saw a fairly uneventful performance with few real chances. But truth be told, we would probably all have signed up for it to remain the same in the second half and the match to end with the unpopular yet historic 0-0.
The start of the second half was very similar to the first. The English had more possession, but again, they lacked ideas to penetrate the Slovenian setup. Unfortunately, our boys also failed to create any dangerous counterattacks. There was some danger for the Slovenian goal after a corner in the 57th minute when Šeško cleared the ball off the line after a header in front of the goal. The English wove and weaved around our penalty area, exchanged plenty of passes, but in the first hour of play, they still did not create a real, clear chance.
Photo: Vid Ponikvar / SportidaIn the 68th minute, Andraž Šporar broke free from the English defense, but was stopped at the last moment by Guehi with a foul. Guehi also earned a yellow card for this intervention, but it was necessary as otherwise Šporar and Šeško would have been running towards only one English defender. A very similar situation happened to us when in the 72nd minute, Bijol stopped Kane in a similar manner, who would otherwise have been running towards Jan Oblak alone. In the 75th minute, Rico’s attempt is worth mentioning, which flew past Oblak’s goal. In fact, the English created far fewer chances than Slovenia’s first two opponents in this Euro, Denmark and Serbia. In the second minute of stoppage time, the Islanders then created perhaps the most dangerous shot of the match, when Palmer tested Oblak from the side. Our captain also had no major problems with this shot and did his job routinely.
To be honest, this match was quite boring and uninteresting, but who cares… No one will remember that tomorrow. Our heroes have given us a historic evening that we will remember for a long time. Probably, a 0-0 result has never been so sweet. With fighting spirit, dedication, discipline, and incredible energy, our representatives earned advancement to the round of 16 and gave us at least one more spectacle with Slovenia in the lead role. On our national holiday, June 25th, our team gave our homeland the best possible gift for its 33rd birthday. The most beautiful part of the match was when the main referee blew his whistle for the last time and all members of our national team celebrated together on the Cologne pitch. And more than deservedly so. Let’s enjoy this moment and be insanely proud of our boys. It’s hard to find the right words for this incredible achievement. All I can say is – hat’s off!!!
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This text was automatically translated using AI.
Author: editorial Football Planet