In the early morning of July 1, the 1/8 finals of Euro 2024 will continue. At 0:00 on the 1st, the number one favorite England will play against Slovakia, which defeated Belgium in the group stage; At 3 o'clock, Spain, who won all three games in the group stage, will face Georgia, which advanced to the knockout stage for the first time in team history.
Due to the mediocre performance in the last two games of the group stage, England and manager Gareth Southgate, who are worth as much as 1.52 billion euros, have been criticized by the outside world. Previously, due to Kieran Trippier's injury, British media reported that Southgate was considering using Saka to play at left-back, which he played four years ago. With the former recovering quickly from injury and ready for this knockout game, Bukayo Saka is expected to return to the starting right winger position.
As for Bellingham, the core of England midfield, in addition to scoring the winning header in the first game, the Real Madrid player performed mediocre in the games against Denmark and Slovenia, and in the final round against Slovenia, he made many passing and receiving errors, and his post-match rating of 6.4 points was also at the bottom of the team.
However, Southgate still believes in the midfield superstar, who has just turned 21, and he bluntly said in his pre-match press conference that Bellin's ankle injury at Real Madrid at the end of the season has affected his performance, but he himself is not worried about Belin's physical condition. England officials also launched a promotional poster for this game, and Belin appeared in the C position, which also indicates that he is still an indispensable player under the south gate.
Captain Harry Kane also expressed his support for Southgate and Belin at his press conference: 99 per cent of England fans support the team and Southgate, but there is no need to worry too much about Bellingham, he is quite good and believes in himself 100 per cent.
England officials celebrated Bellingham's 21st birthday
In addition, due to Alexander-Arnold's swinging performance in the midfield position, the Daily Mail and many other media have predicted that Manchester United's 19-year-old Maynu will start in his place this game. "Sky Sports" also wrote an analysis that due to the imbalance of the England team in the attacking position, especially Foden and Kieran Trippier on the left side are used to cutting inside, and they are easy to be targeted by the opponent, in the case of Luke Shaw still missing the starting position due to injury, Southgate should consider letting Anthony Gordon replace Foden's starting position.
Anthony Gordon himself said in his pre-match press conference against Slovakia that he was aware of the criticism of England's performance, but the reason was simply that they had high expectations of the team, which was a positive thing.
From the pre-match starting lineup prediction given by UEFA, Bellingham, Maynu, Gordon and other 3 players all appeared in it, while Foden and Alexander-Arnold will be temporarily substituted.
On the Spanish side, many Spanish domestic media sources, including "Marca" and "As", all show that in the 1/8 final against Georgia, coach Defuenrath will continue to use their starting lineup for a 1-0 victory over Italy in the group stage.
The starting line-up for Spain against Georgia given by the Spanish media
Among them, Real Madrid's meritorious captain Nacho, who has transferred to the Saudi league, may continue to miss this game due to muscle discomfort and has not fully recovered from the injury, and Lenormand will take his place. Yamal, Nico Williams, Pedri and others will continue to start.
The well-known data website OPTA also gave a prediction for the match between Spain and Georgia, believing that the Matadors won 75.3% of the game, ranking first in the prediction rate of the 8 group matchups. Yesterday's Italy vs Switzerland, OPTA gave the former a win rate of only 56.96%, which was the most balanced match in the eight groups, and the defending champions also lost 0-2.