After all the lamentations, all the disquisitions, the captain’s messages and internal chatter, England is still dry. But keep going. They closed the first phase in Cologne with only two goals in three games, but at the top of their group, waiting for a third for their round of 16 match on Sunday, on the side of the draw that will later cross with Italy or Switzerland. Their drought also definitively condemned Croatia, which depended on their victory over Slovenia, which celebrated its passage to the knockout phase for the first time in its history. Nothing further: the rival’s celebration began with Oblak, the unbeaten goalkeeper on a night in which England did not find what they were looking for.
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Jordan Pickford, Kieran Trippier, Marc Guéhi, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Conor Gallagher, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Harry Kane, Kobbie Mainoo (Conor Gallagher, min. 45), Cole Palmer (Bukayo Saka, min. 70), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Kieran Trippier, min. 83) and Anthony Gordon (Phil Foden, min. 88)
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Jan Oblak, Zan Karnicnik, Jaka Bijol, Vanja Drkusic, Erik Janza, Timi Max Elsnik, Jan Mlakar, Petar Stojanovic, Adam Gnezda Cerin, Benjamin Sesko, Andraz Sporar, Josip Ilicic (Benjamin Sesko, min. 74), Jon Gorenc Stankovic ( Jan Mlakar, min. 85), Zan Celar (Andraz Sporar, min. 85) and Jure Balkovec (Erik Janza, min. 90)
Referee Clement Turpin
Yellow cards
Trippier (min. 16), Erik Janza (min. 21), Marc Guehi (min. 67), Jaka Bijol (min. 71), Foden (min. 76)
Gareth Southgate appeared a little before his players. He carried two bottles of water against the humid heat. Or to pass the drink. Before looking for his seat, he entered the field a few meters and applauded the stands, filled with English flags, almost one per county, summoned more to a day of introspection than to a match. England is looking for something seemingly simple: England. The coach applauded his people, perhaps for their patience, perhaps for their enthusiasm that has not been quenched by the nonsense that had served them until then.
His team deployed with the caution of someone learning to walk again after a serious accident: a little walk here, another there without much risk. At least they seemed to be distributed harmoniously, without the overlaps of the first two games. Foden and Bellingham were not moving at risk of collision: the City player started above the left touchline, with the Real Madrid player hovering in the center. And when Foden was dragged by the gravitational force of the goal, the other moved away from his path towards the side. First the structure. This time, also, next to Rice in the center of the field there was a midfielder (Gallagher), where before there was a full-back (Alexander-Arnold). Little by little. Although he was so inaccurate that Mainoo replaced him after the break: third attempt.
All right if they had been alone on the grass. But Slovenia also had its plans. No musings. No inner searching. Theft and acceleration. Not even five minutes had passed when Pickford found himself in the hands of a soft header from Sesko. England chewed the ball with that point of anguish that appears when a bite begins to dry out. And Sporar tested Pickford again.
Southgate’s initial applause did not seem in vain. The stands remained with them. What’s more: in some cases he seemed to try to direct the operations. They saw Rice with the ball and a few meters ahead, and they vibrated as if something transformative was about to happen. Even though he had just crossed the center of the field. They encouraged him to accelerate towards the goal, which in English shares a name with goal. It should be more obvious to them. Rarely have so many people been seen together pretending the imminence of pleasure. And rarely have so many players applauded so many bad passes from their teammates. To stop yawning, Kane went down to the center of the field to remember what the ball was like.
Maybe they needed that, a therapy session, because little by little Elsnik and Cerin were watching the ball less often and Sesko was drying up from loneliness. On the English side, there was less patting and more spiciness.
Then Foden emerged from the haze that had blurred them. He stirred up the stagnant waters between the lines, messed up with his dribbling, poked into space behind the defense, and woke up Oblak with a direct free kick. Bellingham also woke up with him, finding the areas from which Foden disappeared, or who disappeared so that he could find a clue. Slovenia had dissipated, but it held on. Saka was missing to appear. He was replaced by Palmer, who wasted the last chance in Oblak’s lap. Before the Slovenians celebrated with him. Before Southgate applauded the crowd a little more.
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