Prediction, Odds & Betting Tips for England vs. Slovakia at EURO 2024
Prediction, Odds & Betting Tips for England vs. Slovakia at EURO 2024
We’ve expected more from England at this EURO. For the time being, they are the biggest disappointment of the tournament, even though they haven’t lost and are one of the six group winners. Though, all that will be forgotten if the Three Lions accelerate now and beat all the remaining rivals. As for Slovakia, they’ve played well, showing courage and delivering one of the tournament’s biggest surprises by beating Belgium.
England
England defeated only Serbia, 1-0, in the opening game of the championship and, after that, played without winners against Denmark, 1-1, and Slovenia, 0-0. All in all, it’s very modest from the top favorite here in Germany.
Gareth Southgate stubbornly pushing his agenda is additionally frustrating for the fans who expect to see their team use all of its offensive potential. In contrast, Southgate applies defensive-minded tactics, which are killing the game’s pace.
For the moment, we can’t say anything about the locker room chemistry, which was shaken by Southgate’s decision to leave Jack Grealish off the final roster.
Slovakia
So, all those who thought that the Slovakians would be a punching bag in their group were wrong. They ended up third in a wild race in Group E, where all four teams had four points each. A win over Belgium in the opening round was enough for the Slovaks to advance to the Round of 16.
There aren’t too many notable names in this unit. Lobotka from Napoli and Skriniar from PSG are the two biggest stars, but the team has plenty of role players who are very motivated and complement one another.
Apart from losing to Ukraine at the EURO, 1-2, their sole loss in the last 10 meetings was against Austria. Besides that, this unit won six times and posted two draws as well.
England: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Gallagher, Rice; Saka, Bellingham, Foden; Kane
Slovakia: Dubravka; Pekarik, Vavro, Skriniar, Hancko; Kucka, Lobotka, Duda; Schranz, Bozeník, Haraslin
These two teams were in the 2018 World Cup qualifying group. The Three Lions had won both matches, 0-1 in Slovakia and then 2-1 at home. Since Slovakia’s independence, they’ve met six times, and England won in five matches. That sole tie was at the 2016 EURO, 0-0.
The English unit will have to work hard to eliminate the Slovaks, especially if they play like they did in the group stage. From what we have seen until now, the Three Lions won’t be offensive-minded, but we still expect them to beat the rivals and advance to the quarterfinals.
Our verdict: England wins