Manager’s name booed before kick-off but by the end supporters respond to his applause and show their support

These are the moments you wait for as a supporter. Yes, it was a 2-1 victory scraped together against a Slovakia team who had run out of steam half an hour earlier. Yes the 94 minutes prior were riddled with moments that went from frustrating to infuriating. But to come out and win and to win like that; suddenly – and for a short moment – anything feels possible.

The turnaround inside the Arena AufSchalke is challenging to describe. The sheer shift in scale was astronomical. There had been whistles and jeers and a sense of a bubbling up, at 1-0 down and with seconds to go. The sense that this could be Iceland on steroids, vituperation in excelsis, was building. But then, instead, a roar; a roar that was surprise as much as relief and delight.

• Francesco Calzona will not change attacking approach
• England could be ‘unbeatable’ if they click, he warns

Slovakia’s coach, Francesco Calzona, has set out the contest between his side and England as one between “a squad worth €1.5bn and one worth 10 times less” but says he trusts his players to deliver in Gelsenkirchen.

The Italian insists he will not drop his attacking approach to the tournament but warned his players must be defensively sound against opponents he believes will be “unbeatable” if they click.

England’s next opponents are dangerous, as Belgium found out in the group stage, but they have a weakness up front

England’s opponents in the last 16 are Slovakia, the team ranked 45^th in the world and making their second appearance in the knockout stage of a European Championship. They generally impressed in qualifying from Group E, with some standout performers, but are not without their vulnerabilities. Here, we look at how they break down and what England should watch out for.

So much for the “Disgrace of Gijón” part two. Romania and Slovakia may have got the result they knew beforehand would guarantee both countries escaped from Group E, but there was no scintilla of a stitch‑up. Unlike the notorious match between Germany and Austria in 1982, this game was not played at walking pace but full throttle, with chances galore, even in the middle of an apocalyptic thunderstorm.

Ondrej Duda’s powerful header was cancelled out by Razvan Marin’s penalty and that meant Romania qualified top of the group, while ­Slovakia went through too as one of the best third-placed sides. With a crowd three‑quarters Romanian it felt like a home fixture at times, and the atmosphere was remarkable with noise and pyrotechnics throughout, but these were two evenly matched teams and a draw was a fair result. Honest.