How England lined up last time they faced Slovakia with BBC pundit playing and only two survivors at Euro 2024
ONLY TWO players who started the last time England faced Slovakia could line-up against them on Sunday.
Although one of the players who featured in the previous 2017 clash between the two nations could be providing analysis on it as a pundit.
England were held to a stalemate by Slovenia in their final group match on Tuesday but still managed to claim top spot in Group C.
That was after they firstly struggled to a 1-0 win over Serbia before last week’s dour 1-1 draw with Denmark.
Despite the underwhelming displays, Southgate’s men now have a potential route to the final that avoids big guns Spain, Germany, Portugal and France.
Now all eyes are on Sunday’s last-16 clash with Slovakia.
This will be the first meeting between the two for seven years – and the Three Lions had to come from behind that night.
Stanislav Lobotka stunned the Wembley crowd in attendance for that World Cup qualifier as he broke the deadlock on three minutes.
It was not Jordan Pickford who was in goal that evening for England – it was Joe Hart.
The recently 37-year-old would only win two more caps for his country after that match, which meant he earned 75 in total.
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While he may no longer be vying for a spot on the pitch, the ex-Man City and Celtic stopper is in Germany for the tournament as pundit for BBC.
Right-back Kyle Walker, 34, is a survivor from that side and remains England’s first-choice in that position.
He had Ryan Bertrand playing on the opposite flank back in 2017, with a centre-half pairing of Gary Cahill and Phil Jones between them.
Southgate still favours his two holding midfielders, and it was Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier that got the nod that evening for what was just the England bosses 10th match in charge.
And it was Dier who got the Three Lions level on 37 minutes to start the comeback.
Marcus Rashford, who was axed for Euro 2024 by Southgate after a poor campaign at Manchester United, sealed the turnaround in the second half with the winner.
He started that game on the left, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right and Dele Alli offering support to the now England captain Harry Kane in attack.
Kane will almost certainly lead our boys out against Slovakia this weekend, but he and Walker are the only survivors – including the subs.
Raheem Sterling, Danny Welbeck and Jake Livermore all came off the bench, but the trio are no longer involved in Southgate’s plans.
This will be the seventh meeting between England and Slovakia in total.
And the Three Lions have enjoyed the best of it so far and are unbeaten.
They have won five of the six games, with the only blip being a 0-0 draw in their final group match of Euro 2016.
