Under-fire England wraps up Group C play against Slovenia on TSN

With the pressure mounting on manager Gareth Southgate after two poor showings at UEFA Euro 2024, England looks to head into the Round of 16 with a victory over Slovenia from Koln.

You can catch England vs. Slovenia in Group C action from UEFA Euro 2024 LIVE on Tuesday with coverage getting underway at 2:45pm et/11:45am pt on TSN1/3/4, streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.

With the narrative surrounding England through two games, you might be surprised to learn the Three Lions are the only team in Group C with a victory and sit atop the group on four points. Only a single point against Slovenia is needed to progress to the knockouts, but only on very few occasions through 180 minutes of play has England come close to playing up to its vast potential. An early goal from Jude Bellingham gave the Three Lions a 1-0 win on Matchday 1 in a game that saw England hold on for dear life in the latter stages. In their second match against Denmark, England led through Harry Kane, but looked second best for much of the match and were held 1-1 on an equalizer from Morten Hjulmand.

The reaction to England's play in the British media has been nothing short of savage. Gary Lineker called their performance "sh*t." Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand believes that Southgate's team selection is all wrong.

"The current balance of the team is not allowing the players to reach the levels that they have done for clubs," Ferdinand said on the BBC Sport postgame show.  "Phil Foden is out of position and not playing his best, maybe Jude Bellingham would be better playing at No. 8. It is a big concern."

For his part, captain Kane defended his team on Sunday and reminded the former Three Lions players that they were once in their shoes.

“I always feel like they have a responsibility," Kane said. "I know they have got to be honest and give their opinion, but also they have a responsibility of being an ex-England player that a lot of players look up to, that people do listen to them and people do care what they say.”

Southgate will make at least one change to his starting XI with Chelsea's Connor Gallagher expected to come into the midfield in place of Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool. Southgate has called his employment of the right-back as a central midfielder "an experiment," but that looks to be over. Newcastle's Anthony Gordon has also been tipped to enter the starting XI in place of Foden.

For Slovenia, passage to the knockouts is very much on the table after draws with Denmark and Serbia. 

"We are still masters of our destiny, with all due respect to England, who are an outstanding team," manager Matjaz Kek said. "This will be the biggest challenge for this generation of players. But I am sure it will not be the last. We have calmed the nerves after Serbia, we have analyzed the positives and negatives from that match. We are ready."

Midfielder Jon Gorenc Stankovic says his team is preparing for the best version of England yet.

"Perhaps England haven't yet shown everything they're capable of at this Euro," the Sturm Graz midfielder said. "That might give them an additional push.  We expect a very disciplined opponent with excellent individuals. We will have to play at our very best, maybe even go beyond ourselves, in order to claim a positive result."

England has never lost to Slovenia in six meetings, winning five and drawing the other. The lone meeting between the two teams in an international tournament came at World Cup 2010 in South Africa when England was a 1-0 winner on a goal from Jermaine Defoe.

POTENTIAL ENGLAND XI (4-3-2-1): Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Kieran Trippier; Connor Gallagher, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham; Bukayo Saka, Anthony Gordon; Harry Kane

POTENTIAL SLOVENIA XI (4-4-2): Jan Oblak; Zan Karnicnik, David Brekalo, Jaka Bijol, Erik Janza; Jan Mlakar, Timi Max Elsnik, Adam Gnezda Cerin, Petar Stojanovic; Andraz Sporar, Benjamin Sesko