The Little Thumbs scared the ogres on Sunday at Euro-2024: Slovakia only missed one minute to eliminate England and Georgia was the first team in this tournament to lead against Spain.
The day after Switzerland eliminated Italy, the reigning European champion, England, victorious over Slovakia in overtime (2-1), and Spain, ultimately too strong for Georgia (4 -1), won their tickets to the quarter-finals, but it was far from a formality.
It took a desperate and acrobatic overhead kick from Jude Belligham, who had been clumsy like the rest of his teammates until then, at the start of the last minute of added time for the “Three Lions”, who had been trailing since the 25th minute, to equalise.
And from the start of extra time, Harry Kane knocked out the courageous and eye-catching Slovaks with a header (91st).
England, 2021 European vice-champion, can continue to dream of their first major title since 1966, but “we know that our level of play will have to be higher,” admitted their coach, Gareth Southgate.
After a laborious first round, Southgate, who was heavily criticized, had nevertheless decided to launch the electric Kobbie Mainoo.
But the 19-year-old attacking midfielder, like the more experienced Bellingham, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Kane, credited with a total of 114 goals this season at clubs, have long come up against the compact Slovakian block.
– A Spain-Germany clash in the quarter –
On one of his rare forays into the English box in the 25th minute, Ivan Schranz had scored what could have been the most important goal in the history of Slovakian football, before the English surge.
England, 4th in the 2018 World Cup, will face Switzerland on July 6 in Dusseldorf, who gave Italy a lesson in realism on Saturday (2-0).
Unsurprisingly, the Italian rout is a national tragedy: the Sunday press speaks of “a shame”, “a disaster”, “a failure”…
Despite this elimination which comes after failures to qualify for the last two editions of the World Cup (2018, 2022), the president of the Italian Federation Gabriele Gravina confirmed coach Luciano Spalletti in his position on Sunday.
“This match (lost against Switzerland 2-0) brought us back to zero, we start from there, I will continue to rejuvenate our group,” Spalletti warned, however.
In the other meeting of the day, in Cologne, Spain, exiting the group stage with the maximum nine points, experienced its first difficulties.
Georgia, still as exciting for its first major tournament, played on par or even better with La Roja until the break.
The team led by Willy Sagnol took the lead when Robin Le Normand sent the ball into his own goal (18th) while trying to prevent Georgian striker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from taking a cross.
After a quarter of an hour of doubt, Rodri brought the two teams back to level (39th), before his team clearly took the upper hand in the second half in pouring rain with goals from Fabian Ruiz (51st), Nico Williams (75th) and Dani Olmo (83rd).
Now it is Germany, the other exciting team in this tournament, who await Spain in the quarter-finals on Friday in Stuttgart for a quarter-final that looks like a final.
– “We have no doubt” –
On the eve of their reunion with their best Belgian enemies, the Blues have travelled to Düsseldorf where they will play their round of 16 match on Monday (6 p.m.).
“We have no doubt but we will have to take advantage of the opportunities,” assured captain Kylian Mbappé in reference to a laborious first phase during which his team only totaled two goals, one against his side from an Austrian defender and the other on a penalty against Poland.
“We are not favourites,” acknowledged Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco, who will be without defender Thomas Meunier, who has a thigh injury.
But as England and Italy have observed, the status of favorite gives no guarantee in this Euro which is shaking up the continental hierarchy.
