Match Summary

England Team

Slovenia Team

After some stuttering and unconvincing performances of late, England had more than the one task to achieve against Slovenia.  The first, of course, was to gain the three points that would guarantee their passage to the World Cup finals in Russia next year.  The second was to produce a more convincing display to satisfy the fans and pundits watching.  In the end one out of the two was just about acceptable.

This was a game of few chances, and very little football that warmed the soul.  England did begin brightly and both Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling looked lively as they attacked the box.  In the first five minutes England forced several corners but created very little from them.  Indeed, from one England corner, Slovenia actually broke away quickly and Joe Hart had to move swiftly off his line to stop Josip Illicic.  In fact Hart did clip the forward's foot but the referee gave nothing.  At the other end Harry Kane's first action saw him shoot at goal but Jan Oblak easily saved.  On the quarter hour Kyle Walker's careless header almost led to an attack for the visitors but his fellow defenders managed to avert the danger.

The game had settled into a pattern of easy, unchallenged possession for England, and they passed the ball across the back four, and back to the goalkeeper on countless occasions.  That is something that infuriates many in the crowd, who realise that patience is a virtue but hope against hope that someone will pass the ball forward occasionally.  In our Premier League, the object of the exercise is to get the ball into the danger areas and work goalscoring opportunities.  Why, therefore, do we not do that at International level?

On 19 minutes it was Slovenia who missed a golden chance as they broke away swiftly.  A cross from the left was met by Andraz Sporar, and he really should have done better from a central position.  Luckily for England he made no real contact and it was a let-off for the home side.  Seven minutes later England had their best chance to date as Henderson cut into the box and tried to curl his shot around Oblak, but the keeper did well to turn the ball round a post for a corner.  That was good to see from England's point of view, the first bit of positive play and it almost brought a goal.

At this point it was noted that England had 75% of the possession, but about 75% of that was in their own half!  On 35 minutes Sterling was fouled on the edge of the box, a free-kick perfectly set up for either Kane or Rashford to take.  But to everyone's amazement the kick was entrusted to Walker of all people.  Needless to say the ball ended up in the crowd from his woeful kick.  It is fair to say that it might be a while before he takes another kick from that sort of position.  Before half-time, John Stones was booked for a late challenge and then Miha Mevlja also went into the referee's notebook after a cynical challenge on Rashford.  The Manchester United youngster had been the one bright spark of a disappointing half for England and right on the whistle his dangerous near post cross was flicked just over by Gary Cahill.  It was difficult to analyse England's performance during the break, each player had worked hard, each player had done their job, but something was missing, something to spark the crowd.

Two minutes after the restart a deep cross to the far post saw Bojan Jokic unmarked to head back towards goal for Slovenia.  The ball struck Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's arm as the ball landed, eventually, in Hart's arms.  The game meandered along for a while with nothing to report and then on 59 minutes Walker, again, was at fault.  Hart's throw out was not good but Walker's attempted header inside only found substitute Valter Birsa, and he could and should have done better with a clear chance.  Four minutes later and England also had a clear chance to break the deadlock.  Sterling gained possession on the halfway line and sprinted away.  He passed the ball to Rashford on his left, but this time the young striker tried to be just a little too clever in trying to chip the keeper.  Unfortunately there was not enough power in his chip and a defender had ample time to clear the danger.

Two minutes later though, England forged their best chance so far.  Rashford's fine pass down the left sent Ryan Bertrand away and when the cross came in the ball deflected to the onrushing Sterling who seemed certain to score.  He hit his shot well enough but somehow Bostjan Cesar managed to deflect the ball wide of goal.  It was an amazing piece of defending and Sterling held his head in disbelief.

Jesse Lingard was then sent on for the ineffective and out of form Oxlade-Chamberlain, and the substitute was soon in the action.  Rashford and Sterling then combined for Kane to shoot narrowly wide of the far post.  These chances make it sound exciting but in between times there was a great deal of slow, across the park passing, and the game was anything but exciting.  Stones, already booked, had an altercation with two Slovenian defenders, and the visitors had been organised and disciplined in their defending, largely frustrating England.  With ten minutes left Lingard went close, and then Hart had to save well from another substitute Tim Matavz.  Michael Keane came on for Sterling, in what was a strange substitution, from an attacking point of view, and following one England free-kick given in the Slovenia half, the ball went all the way back to Hart.  There was an audible groan from the England fans when six minutes were shown to be added, but as it turned out those groans turned to cheers three minutes into that added time.

Walker tried a low shot, which was easily saved, but the goalkeeper's throw out was then intercepted by Walker and the Manchester City full-back finally managed his best piece of work with a terrific low cross to the near post.  Kane, as ever, anticipated the move and nipped in front of the defender to toe-poke the ball home.  Oblak managed to get something on the shot but not enough to prevent it trickling over the line for Kane's 11th goal in an England shirt.  The goal gave England their right to visit Russia next summer and that is something that everyone will be pleased with.  It goes without saying though that England will have to play much better than this if they want to do anything in the World Cup finals.
  

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Mike Payne - football historian and contributor