SLOVENIA head coach Matjaz Kek is backing his side to produce an upset and beat England tonight in their Euro 2024 European Championship clash in Cologne, Germany.
Kek’s side are currently third in Group C after draws with Serbia and Denmark, and will need a positive result against the Three Lions to advance to the knockout rounds.
England are on top of the group and are already guaranteed passage into the round of 16 but their head coach is keen on a win to silence the critics of their below-par performances.
“We are still masters of our destiny, with all due respect to England, who are an outstanding team,” Kek told his pre-match press conference.
“This will be the biggest challenge for this generation of players. But I am sure it will not be the last. We have calmed the nerves after Serbia, we have analysed the positives and negatives from that match. We are ready.”
A win for Slovenia, who are unbeaten in their last six matches, would take them above England into first place (or second place if Denmark beat Serbia), but Southgate is desperate to get his Lions roaring back to life.
“It’s been good to have some time since the last game,” the England manager said.
“We’ve been able to have more meetings and training time, but also talk with the players about the state of play at the moment: where we are, where our performances are, and we’re all working together to try to improve that. We’ve got huge motivation.
“We haven’t played the way we want to yet and we have the opportunity to win the group. That could be very important. Our motivation level is never in doubt, especially not for this game.”
In Group C’s other clash tonight in Munich, Denmark and Serbia both need victory to be sure of advancing to the round of 16.
