Slovakia was unsuccessful in its quest for a sensation, but coach Calzona is proud of his team: England was afraid of us, we deserved to advance

Slovakia was one of the biggest outsiders at the Euro. It should have had even less chances of success than the Czech Republic. However, it made it to the eighth finals, where it was far from a sensation, knocking out England. That didn’t happen, yet coach Francesco Calzona is proud of his team. He even believes that Albion feared his charges.

A pompous England close to disgrace? Even so, it’s the biggest favourite of the championship. Gareth Southgate’s charges are struggling, the stars are behind expectations, the coach himself is under a huge barrage of criticism, an enormous amount of pressure he cannot handle. And is he doing anything about it? No, he’s not.

Some of the English media then wrote after the end of the preliminary groups about an easy route to the final. The English were challenged by Slovakia, one of the biggest underdogs of the championship, in the eighth round. Probably Albion’s biggest star Jude Bellingham didn’t even know who he was going to play.

It is no wonder that on social networks we can regularly find criticism of the English media, talk about the arrogance of the English and so on. It was all the more interesting when Slovakia held the lead almost until the last minute of the setup. But then Bellingham, who was otherwise almost invisible for most of the match, equalised with a beautiful scissors.

In extra time, the charges of Italian coach Francesco Calzona were tired and soon got their second goal. Still, they managed to take another breath at the end and tried to stay in the game. Unsuccessful. They’re going home. England won 2-1, but Slovakia have nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary.

Slovakia, according to Coach Calzona, deserved to advance

Coach Calzona held a press conference after the game and accused the English players of stalling and other various obstructions. “They were afraid of us. We deserved to advance,” he was quoted by Football-Italia.

“My charges worked hard. They followed the instructions I gave them to the letter. But we allowed the English more we wanted in the second half. Against a team with such quality, however, it was to be expected. In extra time, I was upset because there was only one minute left. That wasn’t enough given the way England were stalling,” he said.

Besides, he didn’t like the performance of the referees, but he doesn’t blame them for the defeat and the end of the tournament. “I am proud of my team. We played good football, gave a great performance. I think the Slovaks will be proud of us. After all, forcing a team like England to focus only on defending in extra time is something we can be proud of,” he added.

Source: EURO 2024, Football-Italia