England fans danced with joy after hearing that the countries opponents in the round of 16 would be lowly ranked Slovakia.
After a day of drinking in the sunshine, the remaining few hundred fans who stayed on in Cologne after the dismal draw with Slovenia, had been expecting England to have to face Holland as the results came in tonight.
But the games between Portugal and Georgia and Turkey and the Czech Republic meant the permutations ended in England meeting the 54th ranked Slovakia on Sunday evening.
The final results have reinvigorated deflated England fans with a sense of hope with Gareth Southgate’s side seemingly having an ideal run to the final.
Although other supporters are less optimistic, warning that with England’s poor performances so far and in light of the fact that Slovakia beat Belgium in the group stages, a win on Sunday might not be so straightforward.
England fans gather at the Mainufer Fan Zone in Frankfurt to watch the UEFA Euro 2024 Football Championship match between England
England fans react after a goal by Harry Kane during England’s 1-1 draw to Denmark
Kane celebrates after scoring the opening goal against Denmark last week
Jason Paulson, 26, from High Wycombe said: ‘It isn’t looking too bad for England because we don’t have to play teams like Portugal, Belgium, Germany or France unless we get to the final.
‘Holland would have been difficult because they have got some great players like the Liverpool stars like Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gapko, but we don’t know that much about Slovakia which means they haven’t really made an impact.
‘It hasn’t been a great tournament for England and people have been criticising the players and the manager, but this has given us an unexpected real chance of doing well and I hope they grab the chance against Slovakia on Sunday night.’
His friend Andy Hammond, 25, an electrician from Marlow, added: ‘We have been given the best opportunity any country could have had to get to the final.
‘ I just hope we don’t blow it, and we should at least get to the semi-final and then who knows. We’ve been to the final before, but we might have to play Italy I think, and you know what they did to us at Wembley in the last Euro final!’
England fans gather ahead of the Three Lions’ match against Slovenia on June 25
England fans get in the spirit before the Three Lions’ match against Slovenia on June 25
Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane of England and Marc Guehi appear deep in conversation during England’s dismal draw against Slovenia on Tuesday night
Gareth Southgate gestures to fans after a lacklustre match against Slovenia
Alex Saunders, 41, an engineer from Brighton said England fans shouldn’t get too enthusiastic, not only because of the poor performances from England, but the fact that Slovakia had beaten Belgium in the group stages
‘They are capable of turning us over. We can’t start getting ahead of ourselves.
‘We need our players to really perform on Sunday evening and for every English supporter to really get behind the team in the stadium.
‘England have been handed a golden opportunity to avoid the bigger nations in trying to get to the final.’
Heading into Wednesday’s fixtures, England looked likely to face the Netherlands, but Georgia’s shock 2-0 win against Portugal changed all that.
The European minnows took the lead through star man Khvicha Kvaratskhelia inside two minutes, and doubled their advantage thanks to a Georges Mikautadze penalty 12 minutes after the interval.
They appear to have done England a favour, with the Three Lions now avoiding the Netherlands and taking on the third-placed team in Group E instead.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia celebrates after he scores the opening goal against Portugal
Georgien players celebrate after winning their group stage match against Portugal
Ivan Schranz celebrates after scoring his teams first goal against Ukraine on June 21
That is Slovakia after they secured a 1-1 draw against Romania earlier in the day to book their place in the knockout stages.
England now have an ideal potential run to the final, with France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and hosts Germany all on the opposite side of the draw.
Should Gareth Southgate’s men get past Slovakia on Sunday evening, they will have a quarter-final tie with either defending champions Italy or Switzerland.
They could then play Ralf Rangnick’s impressive Austria in the last four after they topped Group D ahead of France and the Netherlands.
A final could then await against one of Europe’s big-hitters, as England aim to go one better than three years ago when they lost to Italy on penalties in the final at Wembley.
They will have to improve considerably on their group-stage showings, though, after three underwhelming performances thus far in Germany.
England sneaked past Serbia 1-0 in their opening game before being held to draws by Denmark and Slovenia.
Anthony Gordon (left) and Cole Palmer (right) are pushing for starts in the last-16
Southgate still needs to figure out how to get the best out of Jude Bellingham (left) and Phil Foden (right)
Fans have been left frustrated with England’s displays, and plastic beer cups were thrown at Southgate as he went to applaud the travelling contingent on Tuesday night following the dire draw with Slovenia.
Southgate has admitted he expects a lot more from his side, but could hardly have asked for a kinder draw to put things right.
He now has some huge calls to make on his starting XI to face Slovakia after receiving heavy criticism for his team selections at the tournament so far.
Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon are all pushing for starts after impressing off the bench against Slovenia, while Southgate still needs to figure out how to get the best out of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden. Former England striker Alan Shearer insisted changes must be made for the last-16 tie, and Southgate must now decide whether to make minor tweaks or radical alterations to finally get his team on the front foot.
