England should overcome dreaded ‘ITV curse’ to beat Slovenia
England will have to overcome the dreaded ‘ITV curse’ if they are to beat Slovenia and avoid a tough draw in the last-16 of the European Championship.
The Three lions have booked their place in the last-16 of Euro 2024 despite unimpressive performances so far.
Gareth Southgate‘s men opened their campaign with a 1-0 win over Serbia before a dismal 1-1 draw with Denmark.
England will top Group C on Tuesday night if they beat Slovenia, with Southgate set to make just one change to his team.
A win against the 57th ranked side will see England set up a last-16 clash with the third place team from Group D, E or F on Sunday.
England will top Group C on Tuesday night if they beat Slovenia live on ITV on Tuesday
The Three Lions will face rivals Germany in the last-16 if they finish second in their group
However, if they fail to to beat Slovenia and Denmark overcome Serbia, Southgate’s side may finish second in their group which would set up a last-16 clash with rivals Germany, who topped Group A on Sunday.
The match against Slovenia will be shown by ITV and England’s major tournaments record with the broadcaster is poor.
Since 1998 England have played 30 Euros and World Cup matches on ITV, winning just seven and losing 13 .
ITV were also the broadcaster when the Three Lions were dumped out of the 2022 Qatar World Cup by France in the quarter-finals.
In contrast, the major tournaments record under BBC is superb, with England featuring on the channel 29 times since 1998.
They have won 20 of those, including the victory against Serbia in the first match of Euro 2024.
BBC’s Gary Lineker caused an uproar after he labelled England’s performance against Denmark as ‘s***’.
England have won just seven major tournament matches on ITV since 1998
The criticism from Lineker didn’t go down well with Three Lions captain Kane, who underlined the fact that ex-England players, too, never won an international trophy during their careers.
Declan Rice, meanwhile, also hit back at the negative comments from former players, claiming they should instead be encouraging the current crop of England players.
