Slovenia vs England – FIFA World Cup Qualifier – Preview

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Sreya

Slovenia vs England – England travel to Stadion Stozice on 11th October, Monday to face Slovenia as they aim to secure their third consecutive win in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

England have won their first two matches of the first round of the qualifying campaign against Slovakia and Malta while Slovenia defeated Slovakia last week having played out a 2-2 draw against Lithuania in September.

England top the Group F standings with six points while Slovenia sit on the third position with four points, with the top two teams poised to qualify for the next round.

Team News

Kevin Kampl is Slovenia’s only absentee after the midfielder withdrew from the squad due to exhaustion. England’s main injury concerns are Ryan Bertrand, Phil Jagielka and Tom Heaton. The talking point ahead of England’s match is the fact that Wayne Rooney has been dropped from the squad. Although Gareth Southgate asserted it was a tactical decision, fans and pundits believe it was owing to his poor performance against Malta.

Slovenia Possible Starting Lineup: Jan Oblak, Aljaz Struna, Miral Samrdzic, Bostjan Cesar, Bojan Jokic, Josip Ilicic, Valter Birsa, Rene Krhin, Jasmin Kurtic, Benjamin Verbic, Roman Bezjak.

England Possible Starting Lineup: Joe Hart, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Gary Cahill, Danny Rose, Jordan Henderson, Eric Dier, Marcus Rashford, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingaard, Daniel Sturridge.

“We have looked at the way Slovenia play and I knew in my mind the profile of the midfield I wanted to play in this game. In no way is it a reflection of Wayne’s performance on Saturday.

He had a lot of the ball and played with great tactical discipline. It’s not an easy decision to take because of the respect I have for him as the captain of this team.”

– Gareth Southgate, England.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Slovenia vs England H2H stats, the Three Lions have won all of their previous four encounters with Slovenia. England are likely to win 1-0.