England qualified without convincing for the eighth, Denmark will find Germany

The English and Slovenians played back to back (0-0) on Tuesday in Cologne, but each validated their ticket for the round of 16. Danes and Serbs did not do better (0-0).

A small point of great value for Slovenia. By winning their third draw in this group phase against England (0-0), Tuesday June 25, in Cologne, the players of Matjaz Kek have won their ticket to the round of 16 of the Euro, a first for the Central European country. With three points and a goal difference of 0, the Slovenes are, in fact, guaranteed to finish among the four best third-placed groups ahead of Croatia (2 points) and Hungary (3 points but with a goal difference of -3 ).

The English, long apathetic, finished in first place in the group after once again putting on a very sad spectacle. A bit like the French team, England struggled to finish against an inspired Jan Oblak (34th, 58th). The Slovenes could have created a small sensation if Benjamin Sesko (5th) or Andraz Sporar (19th) had more success in their attempts.

In the other match of the meeting, Denmark and Serbia managed to offer even less spectacle. The Serbs thus waited until the last quarter of an hour to sign their first strikes, timid. Opposite, Denmark was slightly more dangerous, notably through Christian Eriksen, in this match which both sides seemed above all not to want to lose, if not to want to win it.

With only three points on the clock, the Danes finished second in their group, ahead of Slovenia, despite the same number of points (three), the same goal difference in the confrontation (zero), the same number of goals scored in the confrontation (one) and the same number of yellow (six) and red (zero) cards received since the start of the competition. The two teams are perfectly tied in this Euro, and therefore had to be decided based on the eighth and final criterion provided by UEFA, namely the ranking of the two teams during the Euro qualifiers. Denmark then finished ahead of Slovenia… thanks to a better number of points in the direct confrontations. Did you say “tight”?

In the round of 16, the Danes will face Germany on Saturday June 29. The Slovenes are still waiting to know their opponent.