England held onto their Euro 2024 hopes by the skin of their teeth as a 96th-minute Jude Bellingham equaliser and extra-time winner by Harry Kane turned an unbelievable Round of 16 tie with Slovakia on its head.
It looked certain that Gareth Southgate’s side were heading for an ignominious exit when 70 minutes of painful football followed Ivan Schranz’s 25th-minute opener, only for some late inspiration to strike when the chips were down.
Truthfully, it was hard to say either nation fully deserved victory after Slovakia sat back and England lacked any attacking verve, but ultimately the Three Lions’ added depth told.
This story unfolds itself in the player ratings for both sides – which include several underwhelming scores.
Jordan Pickford – 7
Slovakia only had three shots on target across the entire 120 minutes, and Pickford stood no chance for Schranz’s opening goal.
Otherwise, Pickford was the dependable figure he has been in 64 previous England appearances, dominating his box and charging out to offer an option to his centre-backs on the ball. His final-minute Maori-style celebration will spawn countless artworks alone.
Kyle Walker – 6
Worryingly for England, Walker looked all of his 34 years of age in this contest.
The Yorkshireman will cop plenty of blame for his positioning when Schranz opened the scoring and for a difficult opening half-hour up against Lukáš Haraslín.
Walker did show plenty of quality as the only man to ping ambitious cross-field passes to Phil Foden and Cole Palmer and should be given credit for marshalling the defence in extra time.
John Stones – 6
Stable enough in defence, but far too ponderous on the ball.
Stones had more of the ball than anyone else on the pitch, taking 139 touches and playing 132 passes, but any onlookers would be hard-pressed to recall anything important he did.
It seemed that all passes were sideways or backwards, regardless of the situation England were in.
Marc Guéhi – 5
Got badly exposed for Slovakia’s goal, caught on the wrong side of Schranz and unable to make up ground in time.
His passing was no more ambitious than Stones’ either, and though Guéhi will officially go down with an assist to his name for Bellingham’s goal, his best achievement from the match was probably to continue through the pain barrier when his shoulder played up.
Kieran Trippier – 6
Was open so often on the left, yet largely ignored by his teammates.
Admittedly, what Trippier did with the ball was not outstanding. He slowed things down by shifting onto his right foot for every attack, but on the one occasion he used his left – when assisting Foden’s disallowed goal – he showed great quality.
Declan Rice – 8
England’s best player, even if the plaudits will go to Bellingham and Kane.
Rice exemplified the qualities that made him one of West Ham’s youngest-ever captains and convinced Arsenal to spend well over £100 million on him, in a never-say-die performance that saw him cover every blade of grass.
He dropped back to become a third centre-back at times, filled in at left-back between Tripper and Bukayo Saka’s spells there, and took the onus to strike at goal when nobody else dared in the closing stages, being inches away from powering into the bottom-left corner.
Making four deliciously successful tackles as well, Rice refused to let Slovakia back into the contest late on.
Kobbie Mainoo – 7
Showed excellent maturity in his first tournament start for England, which ended up becoming a much tougher game than anyone expected.
Two or three bursting runs from midfield helped remind his elders of the urgency required to get back into the game, and he was taken off at the right time to allow England to become more attacking.
Bukayo Saka – 6
Well marshalled by Dávid Hancko, who showed the Arsenal man inside at every opportunity and stunted his threat.
Saka was not at his electric best but did not get downhearted, sacrificing his shot at glory to play at left-back for a vital period of the game which ultimately allowed England to push even further forward.
Jude Bellingham – 8
Heroic equaliser after a bruising 95 minutes.
Bellingham will be the first to admit that this performance, like his previous two, was below his sky-high standards.
But he showed a fantastic willingness to scrap, shunting himself out to the left wing and the right, and gave everything before finally getting an inch of space for the tremendous quality of his goal.
Phil Foden – 5
This must be the end of the Foden left-wing experiment.
Like the Slovenia game, this was a match where the Manchester City man had a licence to maraud and cause danger, but he remained timid in the face of a physical Slovakia backline.
Timed his run poorly for the disallowed goal and wasted several set-piece opportunities, including a bemusing free-kick clipped into the wall.
Harry Kane – 6
Even though he scored the winner, captain Kane was still a peripheral figure in the game.
It is highly concerning for England that their greatest goal threat has been marked out of the game by four consecutive opponents now, and with much better defenders in Manuel Akanji and Fabian Schär to come, Gareth Southgate needs to solve this issue fast.
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Substitutes:
Cole Palmer – 6
Slovakia were aware of Palmer’s threat and probably expected him to start in this match.
The Chelsea man suffered a frustrating 20 minutes after coming on, unable to run down the line or shuttle through the defence, and was pickpocketed when he tried to play cute passes in the final third.
He at least changed the tempo of the game and gave the Slovaks something to think about.
Ebere Eze – 7
Tremendous energy off the bench and alertness while playing as a wing-back in the first half of extra time.
Took on set-piece responsibilities too and could have had an assist this way late on in the match.
Ivan Toney – 7
Everyone in the country must have been cursing Southgate when the Brentford striker was brought on in the 94th minute, but for whatever reason, the 11th-hour decision to go all-out attack worked.
Toney did not contribute to Bellingham’s goal but perfectly directed a header to assist Kane’s winner, right after cleverly winning the all-important free-kick in the corner at the start of extra time.
He then proved he could lead the line alone with some brilliant hold-up play after Kane went off.
Conor Gallagher – 7
Bounding around like a puppy chasing a tennis ball, Gallagher did exactly what was asked of him in the final 15 minutes.
He might not be trusted to start again in this tournament, but the 24-year-old showed why is a key squad player for Southgate.
Ezri Konsa – 6
The likeliest replacement for Guéhi when the Crystal Palace man is suspended against Switzerland, Konsa did his chances no harm during an end to the game where England were in full control.
Martin Dúbravka – 6
Had nothing to do outside of England’s two goals, which were their only shots on target.
He would not have reached Rice’s shot had it been a couple of inches inside the post, nor would he have stopped Toney’s late effort if it had been kept down.
Peter Pekarík – 7
Likely to be the last of Pekarík’s 131 international caps, but how well he has served his country both in this game and in the 18 years prior.
The 37-year-old only played 122 minutes for Hertha Berlin in a 2023-24 season mainly spent on the bench, but has followed that up by playing all but 11 minutes of Slovakia’s thoroughly impressive tournament and should take great heart.
Somebody, somewhere, needs to give this man the chance to play more football.
Denis Vavro – 7
The man mountain certainly imposed himself when horrendously bodychecking Eze in extra-time, and could not be beaten in the air for most of the match.
He stood off Bellingham for the equaliser but it would be tremendously harsh to criticise him for not considering an inch-perfect bicycle kick as an option.
Milan Škriniar – 7
Switched off for Kane’s winning goal after such an impressive match.
The Paris Saint-Germain defender was imperious for the regulation 90 minutes and nipped in whenever required to clear the danger, using all his experience from playing for two of Europe’s best clubs in the last five years.
Dávid Hancko – 8
A quality player for club and country, Feyenoord’s Hancko refused to be beaten by Saka in this contest.
Palmer fared little better against the 26-year-old, and it was no wonder the Slovak was kept on for the entire 120 minutes.
Juraj Kucka – 6
The former Watford midfielder, now 37 years of age and surely in his last international outing, had a bemusing game.
He showed flashes of brilliance with some real pace and nice touches in the first 30 minutes, but after collecting his yellow card seemed hell-bent on getting a second.
That never followed, despite two cynical fouls, and it was a miracle the veteran lasted 81 minutes.
Slovakia’s midfield metronome did exactly what England expected him to, carrying the ball and driving with it to create most of his side’s chances.
His time on the ball was kept to a minimum after an inspiring first 30 minutes, and though he had the joint-most touches of any Slovak – 75 – he did nothing meaningful after his early burst.
Ondrej Duda – 6
Seemed to spend more of his time falling over and moaning than actually playing football.
Norwich City fans would have had horrendous flashbacks to his forgettable loan spell at Carrow Road.
Ivan Schranz – 8
Slovakia’s best player on the night and the scorer of a goal that so nearly got them through to their first-ever Quarter-Final match in a major tournament.
The 30-year-old timed his run to perfection for the strike and showed excellent composure to stab across Pickford for his third goal of a memorable Championships.
David Strelec – 7
A powerful and surprisingly pacey forward, Strelec served as the perfect foil for Slovakia’s game plan when they went in front early and then aimed to hold on.
Was short of service with just 17 touches in the match, but did well with what he had.
Lukáš Haraslín – 6
A good threat in the early stages and manfully tucked in and defended for the rest of the match.
Similar to his other forwards, starved of good service with just 24 touches.
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Substitutes:
Róbert Boženík – 5
It was easy to forget the big man was on the pitch, despite being brought on in the 61st minute.
Had nothing to do as his side sat back for so long and was unable to change the game in extra time.
Tomáš Suslov – 5
Another player who seemed to spend more time on the floor than on his feet.
Impressively won a free-kick when he turned his ankle trying to step on an England player’s toes.
Matúš Bero – 5
Hurled a long throw into the England half at some point during extra time, but it was hard to remember him doing anything else.
László Bénes – 5
Looked nervous when coming on with 10 minutes of normal time left and failed to do either of his jobs; shoring up the midfield or offering energy in extra time.
Norbert Gyömbér – 4
Clumsily shoved over Toney at the start of extra time for the free-kick from which Kane’s goal came.
Ľubomír Tupta – 5
The last roll of manager Francesco Calzona’s dice, but only had six touches and one shot in the last 11 minutes.
