England Supporters Club

England's Gary Cahill: Slovakia shut the door in our faces

Posted by Team England at 09:18 on Tuesday 21 June 2016

Gary Cahill bemoaned England’s lack of cutting edge as the Three Lions finished second in Group B following a frustrating draw against Slovakia.

Roy Hodgson made six changes to his starting line up and watched his side control 60 per cent of the possession and fire 29 shots on goal.

But stand-in captain Cahill and his team-mates ultimately finished runner-up to Wales after Chris Coleman’s side thumped Russia 3-0 to finish top of the group in the evening's other fixture.

The Chelsea centre-back said: “We tried and tried time and time again but they shut the door in our face.

“It’s disappointing for us tonight because in all three group games we’ve had the majority of possession.

“We dominated the play from start to finish tonight but we couldn’t unlock the door and it’s disappointing for us.

“We had the ball constantly but we didn’t have the cutting edge to open them up.

"In games like that sometimes you need something a little bit special when they just sit back with a bank of five and four.



“You need something special – someone to shoot from outside the box or create something which we nearly did. We got in a couple of times in the full-back areas but it wasn’t to be.”

England will play the second-placed team from Group F on Monday evening in Nice, which means they will face one of Portugal, Hungary, Iceland or Austria in the last 16.

But Cahill remains confident England can get their Euro 2016 bid back on track.

He added: “We know we’re second in the group and we’ve got a huge game coming up but it gives us time to try and get back fresh.”