England forward No. 9 Harry Kane and England midfielder No. 10 Jude Bellingham celebrate after Kane scored his team’s second goal during the round of 16 match between England and Slovakia at UEFA Euro 2024 at the Arena auf Schalke in Gelsenkirchen on June 30, 2024. (Photo: AFP)
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AFP) — England avoided an ignoble last-16 exit at Euro 2024 thanks to Jude Bellingham’s overhead kick and Harry Kane’s extra-time goal to secure a 2-1 win over Slovakia on Sunday.
England were expected to be favourites to win major tournament glory for the first time in 58 years, but a goal from Ivan Schranz after 25 minutes looked to have them unfortunately defeated.
But Bellingham’s sublime display six minutes into added time breathed new life into Gareth Southgate’s reign as England manager.
Kane then scored a header just a minute into extra time to book a place in Saturday’s quarter-final against Switzerland.
“It’s the enthusiasm and the attitude from the boys, it looked tough at the moment but they hung in there,” Kane said. “Jude did his Jude thing and it was an unbelievable goal.”
Southgate was expected to kick himself after stubbornly refusing to make any changes to a team that tottered away as Group C winners despite scoring just two goals from three games.
Coby Mainu was Southgate’s only substitution, making his first competitive start, but he paid the price with another lackluster performance, lacking pace and creativity for long periods.
“We want to get better,” Southgate said. “I’m not going to hide that, but our spirit and grit is there for everyone to see and we’re still fighting.”
England’s only saving grace in the group stage was that their makeshift defence held up well, conceding just one goal in three games.
But they were beaten early by Slovakia, ranked 45th in the world.
England failed to heed some warnings as David Hanko and Lukas Halaszlin squandered big chances.
Slovakia finally punished their established opponents when David Strelek was given wide space and passed to Schranz, who confidently slotted past Jordan Pickford for his third goal of the tournament.
The half-time whistle was met with boos but Southgate remained adamant and made no changes until 25 minutes from time.
England at least improved on their dismal first half and scored a goal within five minutes of the restart.
Phil Foden tipped the ball into the goal from a Kieran Trippier cross, only for it to be ruled offside by VAR.
– Kane seals victory –
Slovakia should have doubled their lead soon after as England lost the ball and, although Strelec found Pickford well away from his goal-line, he was unable to get a shot on target from the half-way line.
Southgate was finally forced to make a substitution after 66 minutes when Trippier suffered an injury.
But England continued to struggle to create chances and were on the back foot when Kane missed a fine chance with a header and Declan Rice’s long-range shot struck the post.
Southgate was mocked by England fans with chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” after introducing Ivan Toney in the dying seconds of the game.
But in the final moments of added time, an incredible turn of events occurred when Bellingham acrobatically tucked in Guehi’s flicked ball from a throw-in to score.
“It’s a feeling like no other,” Bellingham said.
“You have 30 seconds to go home and listen to some crap and feel like you’ve let the people down. Thirty seconds or a kick of the ball can change everything.”
Slovakia suddenly found themselves shaken and Toni was to make a crucial contribution.
The Brentford striker headed home Eberechi Eze’s miscued shot just in front of goal for Kane’s second goal of the tournament.
Slovakia should have taken the game to penalties after full-back Peter Pecaric failed to convert a dangerously powerful cross from close range.
But England will once again face a quarter-final clash with impressive Switzerland, who beat defending champions Italy 2-0 comfortably on Saturday.
