Joe Hart: We still believe we can go a long way at Euro 2016

Monday 20 Jun 2016
Joe Hart

Joe Hart believes the nations in Group F will be scrambling to avoid England in the knock-out stages of Euro 2016.

The Three Lions were held to a 0-0 draw by Slovakia in their final group match on Monday evening, meaning they will now take on the second-placed team from the group containing Portugal, Hungary, Austria and Iceland.

That group will be decided after their final games on Thursday, with the second round match against England taking place next Monday evening in Nice.

Slovakia 0-0 England

UEFA Euro 2016
Group B
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne
Monday 20 June 2016

And goalkeeper Hart believes whoever Roy Hodgson's men face in Provence won’t be looking forward to the match.

"We’ll obviously watch the next games and see who’s ready for us next, but I’m sure they won’t be looking forward to finishing second in the group," said Hart, after a frustrating evening in Saint-Etienne.

"Preparing for the next game, that’s our life at the moment. Our life revolves around football and I’m really enjoying that.

"It’s what happens in football sometimes, but we’re focused, we’re through to the next round, we’ve still got our sights set on going a long way in this tournament."

England

Joe Hart and Gary Cahill sing the national anthem ahead of the game with Slovakia

On Monday England dominated possession and racked up over 20 attempts on goal, but they couldn’t find a way past in-form Slovakia goalkeeper Matus Kozacik who was also protected by a well-manned defence.

But despite the Slovakian shut-out, Hart believes England can take the positives of a good team performance for a third successive game in France. 

"It was very frustrating, a one-sided game, quite similar to the other two games, we just didn’t really take our chances," he added.

"We came up against a really strong goalkeeper today and some really heroic defending, but we’ve dominated all over the pitch and we’re looking good as a team.

"It is what it is, I’ve played a lot of football now and I’ve played in a lot of dominant teams over the years, and I’ve seen results like this happen."

By FA Staff