England produced a big comeback performance to defeat Slovakia 2-1 to reach the Last Eight of the 2024 Euro on Sunday at the Arena AufSchalke with Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane as the heroes for the Three Lions.
The Real Madrid midfielder fired a dramatic injury time equalizer with a beautiful bicycle kick as the Round of 16 encounter between England and Slovakia ended without a clear winner in 90 minutes.
Bayern Munich attacker Harry Kane then put England ahead in the 91st on the service of substitute Ivan Toney.
The Falcons were just few minutes away from recording one of the biggest upsets at the European Football Championship, but the English players stepped up to snatch the qualification to the last eight.
Ivan Schranz netted in the 25th minute to put Slovakia ahead as The Three Lions failed to reply in the first half, with Phil Foden having a goal disallowed for offside.
England manager Gareth Southgate brought on Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze, and Ivan Toney at different times to replace the injured Kieran Trippier, Kobbie Mainoo, and Phil Foden respectively.
The 90 minutes were up with the score still at 1-0 as eight minutes were added as additional time. With just three minutes to finish the contest and England on the brink of a disappointing elimination, the iconic No.10 was at the right place at the right time to score the much-needed equalizer for Southgate’s team.
Defender Marc Guehi flicked Kyle Walker’s long throw-in for the former Borussia Dortmund man to pounce on, firing a sensational bicycle kick to take the Round of 16 affair to extra time in Gelsenkirchen.
The equalizer spiced up the English team as Kane got his name on the scoresheet with a clever header in the first minute of extra time.
England, losing finalists of the last Euro played in 2021, will now face Switzerland in the quarter-finals on 6th July at Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf.
Interestingly, the Swiss outclassed defending champions Italy 2-0 on Saturday to reach this stage, and their clash against the 1966 World Cup winners promises to be even more entertaining.
Gareth Southgate faced fans pressure to make significant changes to his team, but the gaffer effected just a chance to his starting formation with Manchester United’s Mainoo coming in for Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher.
England Starting Line-up against Slovakia: 4.2.3.1
GK Jordan Pickford
Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Kieran Trippier;
Kobbie Mainoo, Delcan Rice
Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden
Harry Kane
RELATED CONTENT:
Discussion about this post