On June 26th, Slovenia fought hard to draw 0-0 against England in the third round of the European Cup group stage, qualifying for the Round of 16 of the European Cup as the best third-placed team. After the game, Slovenia coach Kok believed that the team’s performance “deserved qualification.”
Slovenia drew all three matches in Group C. In another match, Denmark and Serbia also drew 0-0, so Slovenia only ranked third in the group due to discipline disadvantage, but this was enough to let them enter the knockout stage of the tournament for the first time in their history.
After the match, Slovenia coach Kok couldn’t hide his excitement in an interview, saying: “I didn’t expect us to reach the knockout stage, but the players proved with their performance that we deserved to qualify, and maybe we will face one of the favorites of this tournament.”
Oblak’s successful save of Palmer’s shot in stoppage time became a crucial moment of the entire match. On this, Kok said: “England got a great chance in the final moments of the game, but they didn’t make it too difficult for Jan (Oblak). It’s a kiss of fate, we’re lucky, the luck we missed against Serbia returned to us today.”
Slovenia will not know their opponent in the Round of 16 until after the last round of group matches, but this will not stop them from celebrating their new history.
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