Bellingham warns Slovakia will be tough opponents for England

hile England followers celebrated drawing Slovakia as their group’s last-16 opponents at Euro 2024, midfielder Jude Bellingham warned that smaller nations are not any pushovers — and the performances of different minnows in Germany is a good instance.

England completed high of Group C however stumbled by three tepid first-round video games and now face third-placed aspect Slovakia on Sunday in Gelsenkirchen after a wild race to the end in Group E the place all 4 groups completed on 4 factors.

“I feel individuals take a look at the draw and see Slovakia and suppose it is going to be a straightforward sport,” Bellingham informed England’s in-house “Lions Den” broadcast on Thursday.

“It undoubtedly will not be the case as a result of they are going to be a special kind of risk and will likely be troublesome to interrupt down,” he stated. “I feel whenever you play nations who come at you a bit extra, it’s much more open.

“I feel that you just’re at all times going to have robust video games at this level within the event,” Bellingham added.

Georgia’s 2-0 David-and-Goliath win over Portugal in Group F on Wednesday — a group ranked 68 spots above them — is the most effective instance of a nation outperforming expectations in Germany.

Georgia supervisor Willy Sagnol believes there may be much less strain on the underdogs.

“Once you’re the small group, you don’t have anything to lose,” the Frenchman stated. “It’s troublesome whenever you’re France, whenever you’re England, whenever you’re Spain, whenever you’re Portugal, since you’re underneath strain, as a result of individuals anticipate you to win.

“The one accountability we had was to make the Georgian nation pleased with their gamers. And I feel we’ve accomplished it the easiest way.”

Slovakia shocked Belgium 1-0 of their opening match.

“The lesser groups, if you’ll … the smaller nations, have made progress,” Slovakia supervisor and former espresso salesman Francesco Calzona stated. “We will trigger issues for the extra prestigious nations.

“We’re the Cinderella story of the group stage,” he added.

Whereas England solely had 10 makes an attempt on course within the group stage, their defence — thought-about a weak spot pre-tournament — has develop into a supply of optimism heading into the knockout spherical. They conceded the fewest anticipated objectives (xG) within the group stage.

England final performed Slovakia within the 2018 World Cup qualifiers after they claimed 2-1 and 1-0 wins.

Slovakia received seven and drew one and misplaced two of their 10 Euro qualifying video games, whereas unbeaten England received six and drew two in a five-team group.