All dates England will play on potential route to Euro 2024 final after Round of 16 opponents confirmed
Having scraped their way through the group stages, England has somehow made it the last 16 of Euro 2024.
Gareth Southgate's team came out on top against Serbia with a 1-0 win, followed by two draws against Denmark and Slovenia, scored 1-1 and 0-0 respectively.
Amid a worrying start to Euro 2024, the manager said that he'd rather have the criticism labelled at him instead of his football team.
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In a press conference, he said: “That is my job. I have to keep the players right on track.
“On the day of the game I showed them pictures of Italy celebrating their qualification with their fans, of Hungary celebrating when they didn’t even know if they were through.
“Denmark celebrating a draw against us, and they were on two points. Our world is different at the moment and I feel that is probably because of me.
“I have to help the players as much as I possibly can because we brought the joy back into playing for England and we have to be very careful of where we head with it.”
The feeling around the national team is that they can't play much worse - and are hopefully saving their best for the knockout stages.
Here's what their road to the final, if we get there, could look like:
Euro 2024 knockout stage
Sunday, 30 June
England vs Slovakia (Gelsenkirchen, kick-off 5pm UK time)
Quarter-final
Saturday, 6 July
England or Slovakia vs Switzerland or Italy (Dusseldorf, kick-off 5pm UK time)
Semi-final
Wednesday, 10 July
Romania/Netherlands/Austria/Turkey vs England/Slovakia/Switzerland/Italy (Dortmund, kick-off 8pm UK time)
Euro 2024 final
Sunday, 14 July
Winners of first semi final vs winners of second semi final (Berlin, kick-off 8pm UK time)
'It’s crucial the fans back the players'
Southgate has said how 'important' it is that the fans continue to support the team.
The manager added: “The fans were brilliant with the team in the second half. Absolutely brilliant. That’s so important.
“Whatever the feeling is towards me, you’ve got to get behind the team, and that’s crucial.
“Players have loved playing for England the last six or seven years, we’ve got to keep that - we have to keep that.
“If we don’t then, yeah. I understand the feeling towards me, but back the players, it’s crucial the fans back the players as they did in the second half.
“We need the whole team. We need the whole team.
“I’m proud of what the players did, they showed the right mentality, they showed bravery in a difficult environment at times.
“They showed patience and we didn’t quite get what they deserved from the game but they have to keep going and in the end things will turn.”
Anish Vij