England Fans Furious After Stalemate: Southgate Faces Backlash Despite Euro 2024 Knockout Qualification

England tops their group, remains unbeaten, and secures a favorable draw for the Euro 2024 knockout phase. But the headlines tell a different story as fans jeered and hurled beer cups following a lackluster 0-0 draw against Slovenia at Cologne Stadium on Tuesday.

Despite advancing to the round of 16 as group winners, England's performance in Germany has drawn fierce criticism. Manager Gareth Southgate finds himself under fire, with fans expressing their disappointment loudly.

“I’ve not seen any team qualify and receive similar reactions,” Southgate remarked, hinting that the team's past success under his leadership has heightened expectations. Since taking charge, Southgate has consistently led England out of the group stages in every major tournament since the 2018 World Cup.

“We’ve made England fun again over the last six or seven years. It’s been enjoyable for the players,” he continued. “We’ve got to be very, very careful that it stays that way.”

England's campaign at Euro 2024 has been anything but exciting for supporters. A narrow 1-0 win against Serbia, a 1-1 draw with Denmark, and now a scoreless draw with Slovenia have left fans underwhelmed. Three games, two goals, and a whole lot of frustration.

The performance against Denmark was particularly uninspired, drawing an expletive-laden critique from former captain and BBC presenter Gary Lineker. Although Southgate claimed he was “oblivious” to Lineker's comments, the atmosphere around the team has been tense.

The mood worsened as plastic beer cups rained down when Southgate and his players went to thank the England supporters after the match.

“I’m not going to back down from going over and thanking the fans who were brilliant during the game,” he said. “They might feel differently towards me, but for me, we only will succeed if we are together.”

Southgate has previously led England to the World Cup semifinals in 2018 and the final of the last Euros. However, to meet their pre-tournament expectations as one of the favorites, England will need a significant improvement in form.

Despite the criticism, England's path to the final is less daunting, having avoided the likes of Spain, France, Germany, and Portugal in the next round. They will face one of the best third-place teams after advancing as group winners.

“That was the aim before the start of the tournament. Come top of the group and control our destiny,” said captain Harry Kane.

The result was historic for Slovenia, reaching the round of 16 for the first time, while Croatia was eliminated.

“We are such a small country, with such a big heart and mental strength. That’s why I’m very proud of my team,” Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek said. “This is only the beginning of a new and beautiful era for Slovenian football.”

While Slovenian pride soared, England's attacking issues were glaring, with substitute Cole Palmer coming closest to scoring a winner in stoppage time.

“You can’t go into every game with such pressure and score four goals. Football doesn’t work like that,” Southgate noted. “It is important to win the group to control your own destiny.”

In other group action, a masked Kylian Mbappé scored his first goal of the Euros, but France drew 1-1 with Poland to finish runner-up in Group D behind Austria, which beat the Netherlands 3-2.

Mbappé, wearing a protective mask after breaking his nose in France’s opening game, scored from the penalty spot, but Robert Lewandowski’s twice-taken spot kick earned already eliminated Poland their first point of the tournament.