England secured top spot in Group C despite again failing to fire at Euro 2024 as Slovenia also progressed to the knockout stages thanks to a 0-0 draw in Cologne.
The Three Lions were already assured of a place in the last 16 but were booed off in Cologne and can expect more criticism after failing to improve on underwhelming performances in edging past Serbia and drawing with Denmark.
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England will have to wait until Wednesday’s final group games to find out which of the four best third-placed teams they will face in the last 16.
But more questions will be asked over one of the favourites’ ability to end a 58-year wait for major tournament glory as a star-studded forward line was snuffed out by Slovenia.
Gareth Southgate made a statement with his team selection, resisting the calls to make mass changes as Conor Gallagher replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold in the only alteration from the opening two games.
If the England boss was looking for a reaction by showing faith in the other 10 who have started all three matches in Germany, he was left disappointed.
Slovenia are now nine games unbeaten, which included beating Portugal 2-0 in a pre-tournament friendly.
Declan Rice had highlighted Benjamin Sesko as their big threat on Monday. Sesko could have been lining up alongside Rice at Arsenal next season had he not shunned interest to extend his contract at RB Leipzig.
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The 21-year-old shrugged off a thigh injury to start and had the first chance of the game when he tamely headed straight at Jordan Pickford four minutes in.
It took 20 minutes for England to pose a serious threat and only the offside flag denied them a slick opening goal.
Rice picked out Phil Foden’s run but the Manchester City midfielder had strayed beyond the Slovenian defence before squaring for Bukayo Saka to tap in.
England’s lack of attacking threat down the left had been pinpointed as a major weakness against Serbia and Denmark.
Newcastle right-back Kieran Trippier has had to deputise on the left side of defence due to Luke Shaw’s lack of match fitness, while Foden tends to drift inside.
However, it was down that side that Southgate’s men looked most threatening as a teasing Trippier cross just evaded Gallagher and Harry Kane at the back post.
Southgate took action at the break as Gallagher was replaced by Kobbie Mainoo. The 19-year-old added some much needed thrust to the England midfield but they still struggled to turn dominance in possession into chances.
Kane saw a header cleared by Sesko from a corner and Rice flashed a shot wide from the edge of the box.
Southgate answered the call to give Cole Palmer his first minutes of the tournament in the final 20 minutes.
The Chelsea midfielder, who scored 26 goals at club level this season, had England’s only shot on target of the second half but failed to seriously test veteran goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
A point was jubilantly celebrated by the Slovenians as it did enough for them to progress as one of the best third-placed sides thanks to three draws from their three games.
Matjaz Kek’s men missed out on second place in the group solely due to Denmark’s superior record in qualifying as the sides had the same points, goal difference and goals scored.
Plenty of journalists were critical of England’s performance.
“England have to start playing better than this,” respected football journalist Henry Winter wrote.
“What is wrong with them? Have they lost belief in Southgate?”
Winter added: “The scrutinty was intense. England passed and passed in the first half, interchanging but going nowhere. Some of England’s triangles had a Bermuda feel. It was so frustrating to witness.”
English footballer Christian Burgess posted on X: “How s*** are we … Southgate sucking the fun out of footy.”
England fans also vented their frustration, hurling cups of beer at Southgate.
FRANCE BLOW TOP SPOT AS DUTCH SHOCKED
France blew the chance to finish first in their group despite Kylian Mbappe scoring his maiden European Championship goal in a 1-1 draw with Poland on Tuesday, as Austria won a thriller against the Netherlands to snatch top spot.
Didier Deschamps’ France failed to top their group at a major tournament for the first time since Euro 2012 after being made to pay for a series of missed chances.
“We’ve achieved our first objective,” said Deschamps.
“Even if we don’t have the spot we were aiming for because we are second. A new competition is about to start.”
Austria, who lost their opening game to France, grabbed a 3-2 victory over the Dutch to wrap up a last-16 berth and relegate their already-qualified opponents to third place in Group D.
France dominated for long periods against Poland but have still only scored twice in Germany — an own goal by Austria’s Maximilian Woeber and Mbappe’s penalty.
Les Bleus will face the runners-up from Group E, in which Belgium, Ukraine, Romania and Slovakia all have three points, in the last 16.
Poland goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski, playing in place of Wojciech Szczesny, made two fine stops to deny Mbappe — playing in a mask after breaking his nose against Austria — in the opening period.
Mbappe finally broke his Euros duck in the 56th minute, though, as he slotted in a penalty after Ousmane Dembele was felled by an ill-advised challenge from Jakub Kiwior just inside the box.
But Poland were awarded a spot-kick themselves with 13 minutes remaining for a foul on Karol Swiderski.
Robert Lewandowski’s weak initial effort was comfortably saved by Mike Maignan, but the France goalkeeper had strayed off his line and the Poland talisman dispatched his second attempt.
– Austria power through –
Dutch fans turned Berlin orange as they continued to light up the tournament, but it was the Austrians in full voice early on as their team were rewarded for an enterprising start when Donyell Malen inadvertently fired into his own net.
Malen’s day took another turn for the worse when he dragged a poor shot wide when clean through on goal inside the area.
But the Netherlands drew level less than two minutes after the restart, as Austria midfielder Florian Grillitsch lost the ball in midfield before Cody Gakpo cut inside and finished off a rapid counter-attack.
Just as the Oranje started to get on top, Austria reclaimed the lead as Romano Schmid’s header found the net via a deflection off Stefan de Vrij on the line.
Memphis Depay struck with an excellent touch and volley to equalise again after a good header down by substitute Wout Weghorst.
But one of the games of the tournament was not done yet and Marcel Sabitzer hammered home to put Austria in front for the third time in the 81st minute.
Ralf Rangnick’s men now have a match against either Turkey, the Czech Republic or Georgia to look forward to as they bid to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
The Netherlands will play the winners of either Groups B, C or E. “We didn’t get around to playing football. In the second half, things got better but it wasn’t enough,” Gakpo told Dutch broadcaster NOS.