Lineker, Shearer and Richards give Euro 2024 last-16 predictions and fire warning to England ahead of Slovakia clash

GARY LINEKER and Alan Shearer have given their Euro 2024 last-16 predictions as Micah Richards fired a passionate plea to England.

Gareth Southgate’s side head to Gelsenkirchen on Sunday for the last-16 clash with Slovakia.

The Three Lions were held to a stalemate by Slovenia on Tuesday but still managed to claim top spot in Group C.

That was after they initially struggled to a 1-0 win over Serbia before last week’s dour 1-1 draw with Denmark.

BBC footie pundit and England legend Lineker then caused a storm as he called the team’s performance against the Danes “s***” in his podcast.

Shearer had also torn into the side after the drab performance and insisted there can be “no excuses” for a Euro 2024 display with “no energy, no pace”.

But captain Harry Kane hit back by reminding both that the England teams they played for “won nothing” as he warned of the impact on the morale of the younger players when quizzed on the “s***” comment.

Despite all of that furore, England delivered another underwhelming display as they failed to break down Slovenia, although many believe there were flashes of better things to come.

And Southgate’s men now have a potential route to the final that avoids big guns Spain, Germany, Portugal and France – which has led to Richards calling for them to start showing some “arrogance” as all three tipped the Three lions to advance.

Richards told the Rest is Football podcast: “I think England are gonna click into gear now. I just think the last game against Slovenia, there were signs of them getting higher up the pitch.

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“Now they’ve just got to sort the last bit out with creativity. I think we’ll be fine. Two nil England.”

Lineker then said: “I think, well, I’m gonna go with England anyway. I think it’s remarkable how the draw has fallen for England.

“I mean, it’s not the first time it’s happened for Gareth, obviously, which is great, because it’s really important to have a bit of luck at some point in the tournament.

“And that might be it. You’ve got most of the monsters on the other side of the draw. And even that little twist of Georgia beating Portugal, which meant England played Slovakia instead of Netherlands.

“I mean, Netherlands game, you’re thinking, I mean, they’ve not been flying either, but you’re going, they’ve got some players. I don’t want to be disrespectful towards Slovakia, but there should be very, very strong favourites.”

That was when Richards jumped in and said: “You get the group that we’ve been in, you get Slovakia, you’re on the right side of the group. You’ve got to now hope.

“I mean, you know, should we be in these teams with the players that we have? So on the right side of it, it’s time for us, you know what it is?

“It’s time for us to take responsibility as players, managers and say, we’re better than you.

“Let’s play on the front foot. That’s what we need to do and have that confidence and have the arrogance that we see week in, week out.”

But Lineker warned: “That has to come from the leader, but he’s got England through most games in knockout stages against weaker opposition. I think we’re all going to go for England.”

Before giving out their other predictions, talk turned to the rest of the draw, before the topic quickly switched back to England.

LIneker said: “It is remarkable how it kind of falls for Gareth Southgate’s England teams in major championships.

“But the route to the final for England, if obviously they find a bit of form, we’ve talked about Slovakia, it’s the winners of Switzerland or Italy.

“Normally you go Italy, one of the big nations, but they’re not as strong as Italy that we’ve seen so many times over the years. I would say even three years ago, they were much better.

“They lost to two central defenders, etc. And a possible semi-final, where it will either be Romania, Netherlands, Austria or Turkey.”

Confident Richards then says: “Oh my God! What more do we want in life?”

Lineker interjected and said: “You can’t take any of these things for granted and it’s not in any way being disrespectful to those nations, but I know we’re just starting to draw right soon.”

Richards then concludes: “Come on. It’s not about being disrespectful. You’ve said it, best player in England, best player in Germany, best player in Spain.

“Come on. Say no more. We’re going to the final.”

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The last-16 gets underway today when Switzerland face Italy, with Shearer and Lineker both going for the Swiss while Richards is backing the Azzurri.

Germany vs Denmark is this evening’s main event, and all three were in agreement that it will be the host nation marching on to the quarters.

All three were in agreement again as they backed Spain to beat Georgia in Sunday’s other game, while it was the same regarding the feeling that France would beat Belgium on Monday.

As for Portugal against Slovenia, it was another clean sweep as they backed Cristiano Ronaldo and Co to advance.

Lineker and Richards both believe that Netherlands will advance past Romania – but not Shearer.

He said: “There’s going to be a story somewhere along the line. This could be that story. So I’m going to go Romania.”

Austria versus Turkey on Tuesday is another interesting tie that split the trio, as Shearer backed the Austrians while both Lineker and Richards went the other way.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk