Gary Neville has warned England will have to overcome a major ‘problem’ against Slovakia in their last 16 clash at Euro 2024.
The Three Lions qualified for the knockout stages as group winners despite their underwhelming start to the competition in Germany.
The draw feeds them into a round-of 16 clash with Slovakia – having narrowly avoided a meeting with Netherlands.
While their performances so far have been a concern, England have landed on the more favourable side of the draw for the knockout phase of the competition, unable to face Germany, France, Spain or Portugal until the final at the earliest stage.
Should they beat Slovakia, England’s potential route to the final would see them take on the winner of Switzerland vs Italy with Romania, Netherlands, Austria and Turkey battling it out on the same side of the draw.
Having reached the final of the last Euros and gone deep in the previous two World Cups, England will be expected to beat many of those sides. But former England and Manchester United right-back Neville warns England have struggled with the pressure of putting away teams of that calibre.
‘The one thing that stays the same for England is they are going to be playing games that we actually expect to beat which has been a problem for them in the group phase,’ Neville told ITV.
‘They obviously thought the games would get tougher and they will slightly but there is still that pressure on them that they will have to win or else it will be disappointment.
‘That’s something they gave to contend with.’
Roy Keane also urged caution for any England fans plotting their route to the final in Berlin on 14 July.
‘You want to avoid maybe France and Germany but the form England are in, they can’t get carried away,’ he said.
‘They know they have a tough game coming up at the weekend and they can’t underestimate anyone. They have done that before and it has backfired. They have to up the ante. It is a different mindset now, knockout football, different dynamics. England will have to improve, it will be a tough game.’
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