Euro 2020 is gathering the momentum it was expected to. Gareth Southgate’s England will have to overcome Scotland, who have returned to international football after a gap of 23 years, to join Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands in the round of 16. There’s a lot of history between the Three Lions and the Scots. The first ever international football game was played between the two nations in November 1872 in Glasgow. Over the years, England have won 48 and the Scots 41 times. Although the two old foes form the major talking point for tonight, Sweden will look to beat Slovakia, and Patrik Schick’s stunning goal will play on Croatia’s mind.
Here’s what’s in store tonight:
Sweden vs Slovakia (6:30 pm IST)
Venue: Krestovsky Stadium
After clinging onto a draw in their opener, Sweden will look to play promising football versus Slovakia. Against La Roja, the Swedes had only 15% possession, the lowest figure on record in the history of the tournament. In terms of passes, they had 161 compared to Spain's 917.
The final scoreline of 0-0 was satisfactory against the best team in the group, and Sweden arguably created the best two chances of the game, for strikers Alexander Isak and Marcus Berg.
On Friday, the Swedes play a less possession-based opponent in Slovakia, a team cut from a similar cloth to Sweden in terms of defensive rigidity and simplicity of its approach.
“Slovakia plays differently, (to Spain),” said Kristoffer Olsson, Ekdal's central-midfield partner, “and that means we have a different game plan, which means we can reset ourselves.”.
Slovakia’s preparations were disrupted by a positive test for the coronavirus for one of its fringe players, Denis Vavro. The 25-year-old defender and a member of the team’s coaching staff are isolating after returning positive results following testing on Wednesday. The Slovaks opened with an unexpected 2-1 win over Poland.
Players to watch out for:
Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof kept the Spaniards from scoring in their opening clash. Janne Anderrson will expect him to do the same tonight, while Emil Forsberg will be expected to produce the goals.
For Slovakia, a lot rests on the experienced Marek Hamsik, while defender Milan Skriniar, who scored a surprise goal against Poland, will have a lot on his plate.
Croatia vs Czech Republic (9:30 pm IST)
Venue: Hampden Park
Patrik Schick will be on Croatia’s mind when they go up against Czech Republic tonight. Zlatko Dalic’s side are under pressure to deliver since reaching the 2018 World Cup semi-finals. After an opening 0-1 loss against England, assistant coach Vedran Corluka called on the team to be “more dangerous” and “attack-minded”.
“We know that our problem lately has been our finishing,” Corluka said. “We are working to fix that for the next game. I am certain we will be much better and more dangerous.”
Much of the Czech Republic's threat comes from Schick, who scored twice in a 2-0 win over Scotland on Monday, including a recording-breaking goal from near the halfway line when the striker spotted the goalkeeper far off his line.
But Croatia aren’t planning to change their defensive tactics to deal with Schick.
“We will not strictly man-mark him, because we have never done that, and we will not do it on Friday,” Corluka said.
After beating Scotland in their first match, the Czechs are going into Friday’s game with confidence as they lead Group D on goal difference and are looking to advance to the round of 16.
“We're not going to gamble and play for a draw,” Czech Republic assistant coach Jir Chytr said.
Players to watch out for:
Apart from Schick, Croatia will have to shut down Jakub Jankto, who Corluka described as “fast and dynamic”. Playmaker Luka Modric will need to step up his game for Croatia, after failing to shine against England at Wembley Stadium.
England vs Scotland (12:30 am IST, Saturday)
Venue: Wembley Stadium
England and Scotland will meet for the 115th time in football history. And their rivalry is nearly 150 years old. The last time the Three Lions played the Scots, it was a 2018 World Cup qualifying match, which ended in a 2-2 draw, with Harry Kane scoring a late equaliser. In the European Championship, the two sides last met in the group stage of the 1996 edition, and the match ended 2-0 in England’s favour.
Scotland have been notably inconspicuous in the recent past, but Gareth Southgate doesn't want to underestimate them. “I’ve never felt I’ve been involved with an England team that didn’t respect Scotland and didn’t appreciate how difficult the games were going to be. To talk about the team now, that’s not how they are. They know the quality of players that they’re playing against. They’re teammates with some of those players, so they know exactly what they’re capable of. These players have a level of humility that is really important. We pride ourselves on it. We have got to have confidence. We can’t be shrinking violets going into an experience like this one, so we’ve got to be prepared and not undersell the event,” Southgate was quoted as saying by theguardian.com.
Players to watch out for:
For Scotland, the Tartan Army will expect John McGinn to rattle the English defence, and a lot will depend on captain Andrew Robertson to nullify the Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling threat. Phil Foden showed some sparks of brilliance in the last game, and there will be some interesting stuff expected from him.