Who England will likely play on Sunday ahead of tonight's Euro games
Here is the team which England will most likely face on the weekend after topping their group at Euro 2024.
Last night saw Gareth Southgate's Three Lions manage to emerge victorious from group C after a lacklustre 0-0 performance against Slovenia.
With the safety of the group stages now gone, England will have to pick up the pace with their next performance if the dream of football coming home is to be finally realised.
As group winners, England will be heading back to Gelsenkirchen to face their first knockout game on Sunday 30 June at 5pm.
Advert
Here is a rundown of who their opponents could be.
A breakdown of England's potential last 16 opponents
As the winners of group C, England will face off against the Netherlands or whoever finishes third in Group E at Arena AufSchalke on Sunday (30 June).
The most likely opponent for the Three Lions is the Netherlands, who have finished in third place in group D after a shock loss to Austria.
It's more complicated to guess which other teams England could face, as groups E or F both still have a match to play.
In group E, all four teams - Romania, Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine - are currently tied on three points, which means England could very well face one of the four.
As for the mechanics that determine which team England will face, it is honestly too complicated to explain and will bizarrely depend on the outcome of matches in Group F, but data experts at Nielsen Gracenote say this is the likelihood each of the following teams will face England:
- 61% Netherlands
- 16% Slovakia
- 11% Ukraine
- 8% Romania
- 4% Belgium
Understandably most England fans will be hoping for an easier opponent on Sunday.
As one of the higher ranking teams in the competition and the bookies favourite to win England should in theory breeze past most of these teams.
However, after dismal performances against Slovenia and Denmark, England fans shouldn't get too ahead of themselves and start making plans for the quarter finals anytime soon.
Arguably, facing a stronger team such as Belgium or the Netherlands could even be the push England need to finally kick their campaign into second gear.
England fans will certainly be hoping the team are able to build some momentum, especially as the team contributed to an unwanted record during the group stages.
Out of their three matches, England were able to score just two goals, while the entire group managed to get the ball in the net just seven times combined.
This number means group C are now the joint lowest scoring team in Euros history tied with the Euro 2016 group which featured Germany, Poland, Northern Ireland and Ukraine.
Here's hoping for an exciting match on Sunday afternoon.
Brenna Cooper