Hosts Germany, France, Spain and Portugal are out of sight in the other half of the draw, although England will need to lift performance levels markedly to cash in on this slice of good fortune.
Sunday, the 30th of June, could be the end of England's quick trip to Germany if they do not pull up their pants and get to scoring goals. The actual risk in their way of Slovakia against England has been given an easier route to the final, so there is no excuse for not performing like in the 2021 euros.
Slovakia's weakness is the lack of a goal scorer in the squad. Qualifying for the euros with 11 different players scoring could benefit them due to the depth of goal scorers but lack of reliability and consistency. England has depth and should have a constituency on paper, as shown by Kane, Foden, Saka, Gordon, and Palmer. Bellingham has an example track record of the abundance of goals for respected clubs; however, that's yet to be seen in Germany.
Though statistics say England is unbeaten against Slovakia, England does not always follow the trend they were supposed to on paper, be likely winners of the euros but instead cannot find the back of the net.
They even won their groups because Serbia and Denmark drew goalless in a statement that England, although they should have needed to win against Slovenia, still won the group on a draw instead.
If England wins against Slovakia, they will face Switzerland or Italy in the quarter-finals. If they reach that point, Romania, the Netherlands, Austria, or Turkey will be in the semi-final.
Also, with the news that Phil Foden will be back in Germany for England's next game on Sunday, it is unlikely he will be involved due to the lack of training leading up to the game. This gives a chance for player rotation. It is also likely that even without his sudden absences for the birth of his third child, Southgate would be making changes because it's not working. This system has had three games to work, and it has not. One hopes Cole Palmer and Gordon, or maybe Bowen or Watkins, can be called upon to inject some goals for England.
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