The 17th edition of the European Championship started with a bang as the host, Germany, thrashed Scotland 5-1 in the opening match, at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
FOLLOW THE EURO 2024 MATCH LIVE HERE: ENGLAND vs SLOVAKIA LIVE SCORE, ROUND OF 16 MATCH UPDATES
The Euro 2024 is living up to its promise of high-quality football. Following are the matches that are scheduled to be played on June 29, the first Round of 16 fixtures:
- England vs Slovakia (Round of 16) – June 30, 9:30 PM IST; 6:00 PM local time (CET); 5:00 PM BST
- Spain vs Georgia (Round of 16) – June 31, 12:30 AM IST; 9:00 PM local time (CET); 8:00 PM BST
ENGLAND VS SLOVAKIA
Gareth Southgate’s hesitant England team will need to finally make its presence felt in Euro 2024 against Slovakia in the last-16, or the underdog Slovaks will fancy its chances of upending its opponent.
Southgate’s richly talented squad arrived in Germany as a tournament favourite but optimism around the 2020 runners-ups fizzled with three drab group games mired in uncertainty over the best line-up, with the coach conceding an “experiment” in the early matches had failed.
Slovakia, on the other hand, kicked off its campaign by shocking No. 3 Belgium 1-0, a team ranked 42 places above it.
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“The English have quality, but every opponent it has played was able to torment them,” Slovakia midfielder Ondrej Duda told TV Markza.
Slovakia boss Francesco Calzona called his team the Cinderella story of the group stage after its win over Belgium, while minnow Georgia also played well above expectations by stunning Portugal 2-0 to prove no team can be counted out.
So, while England fans cheered Southgate’s team landing on the kinder side of the draw, with an easier route to the final, that is only paper.
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SPAIN VS GEORGIA
As Spain prepares to face Georgia in the Euro 2024 round of 16 on Sunday, memories will undoubtedly drift to the 7-1 thrashing it dished out to the same opponents last year in a match that helped the team gel at a time of turmoil for Spanish football.
On the eve of its Euro 2024 qualifier in Tbilisi, as Spain was licking their wounds from a 2-0 defeat by Scotland, manager Luis de la Fuente was batting away questions about the scandal surrounding then football federation boss Luis Rubiales.
Spain was 4-0 up at halftime against the stunned Georgians, with 16-year-old Lamine Yamal coming off the bench to seal a 7-1 win and become Spain’s youngest-ever international and goalscorer.
Georgia has won the hearts of fans with a series of never-say-die performances in the group stage that included a stunning win over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal on Wednesday.
It now faces a huge test in Cologne, however, and must find a way to deal with Spain’s suffocating pressure and relentless pace, with Nico Williams and Yamal darting up the wings.
