England once again faces criticism despite topping its group, a visit from Novak Djokovic fails to inspire Serbia to victory, and Romania and Slovakia face the prospect of a Thursday draw working for both of them.

These are the five quick hits from the Euro 2024 action from early Wednesday morning.

1. Unconvincing England wins the group but attack is still a problem

England advanced to the knockout stage of Euro 2024 as group winner after a dour 0-0 draw against Slovenia on.

The result at Cologne Stadium also saw Slovenia reach the round of 16 and Croatia was eliminated.

In a game of few chances, England substitute Cole Palmer could have sealed the win in stoppage time, but his shot was saved by Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

England had already been assured of advancing but doing so as Group C winner means it will play one of the qualifying third-placed teams in the round of 16 — which could be the dangerous Netherlands — but is on the opposite side of the draw to Spain, France, Germany and Portugal.

It was another unconvincing performance from a team that went into the tournament as one of the favourites to be crowned European champion.

Gareth Southgate and his players have faced heavy criticism despite having already advanced before the final group game, and the critcism is sure to keep flowing until their next match.

"We looked so basic in the first half," BBC pundit and Manchester United legend Gary Neville said.

"It was a struggle to watch but it moved forward a lot in the second half even though we didn't get the result but there was glimpses of what we can be.

"England have Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Kobbie Mainoo, Phil Foden — massive, massive talents and we cannot afford to mismanage them."

Keeper Jordan Pickford said the team knew they would continue to face heat throughout the tournament.

"No game is easy and we are going to come under criticism — we have to deal with that. We have finished top of the group and we have not played our best," he said.

"Tonight we showed more quality with the ball, we kept them pinned in and we defended really well - there is still more to come."

Southgate said his team wouldn't be seduced by the idea of being on a side of the draw that was potentially easier.

"We have got to play well and whoever we play is going to be a really tough game. We shouldn't be seduced by which half of the draw," he said.

"So many things are starting to come together. We had a lot of issues before the tournament. I think the way the defence has played has been a huge positive and something to build on. We created chances but we just have to convert those chances."

2. Mbappé scores but faces issues with protective mask

France coach Didier Deschamps highlighted the problems Kylian Mbappé faced wearing a mask to protect his broken nose in the 1-1 draw with Poland overnight.

Mbappé scored a second-half penalty to mark his return to France's starting line-up, eight days after sustaining the bloody injury late in the 1-0 win over Austria on June 17.

Deschamps said ahead of the game that Mbappé's peripheral vision would be limited because of the mask but there were other issues on a hot day in Dortmund, too.

"Despite everything he has gone through, a week after the blow, it was complicated," Deschamps said through a translator. 

"I thought he was quite good on his feet with the mask. He needed to get used to it.

"But when he sweats, that sticks in his eyes and he needed to wipe his eyes."

Still, Deschamps was happy with Mbappé's performance, having left the Real Madrid-bound striker on for the full game — first as a central striker and then on the left wing.

"He's hungry to play and the game would have done him some good," Deschamps said, "especially given what we're going to be doing (next)."

France potentially faces tougher tests at Euro 2024, with Germany, Portugal, and Spain — arguably the most impressive team at the tournament so far — in France's half of the draw in the knockout stage.

3. Austria tops its group for the first time in Euro history

Marcel Sabitzer scored late for Austria to advance to the knockout stage as group winner for the first time in Euro history, with a 3-2 victory over the Netherlands.

Austria topped Group D thanks to France drawing with Poland 1-1 in the other game. Both France and the Netherlands were already assured of progress thanks to results in other games.

"Group winner, group winner!" the Austrian fans chanted in the warm evening sunshine as they streamed out of Berlin's Olympiastadion. 

Their Dutch counterparts, thousands of them dressed in vibrant orange, must now wait for the other groups to conclude to see which team awaits them in the next round.

Austria will play the second-place finisher in Group F — Turkey, Georgia or the Czech Republic — in Leipzig.

"If you beat the Netherlands and finish first in the group, then you can't be so bad," said Sabitzer, who plays in Germany for Borussia Dortmund.

"The top priority for us was to progress and we managed that. Now we need to bring it down a bit, get the heads clear, and then we'll attack again."

The Austrians had needed a point to be sure of advancing and got off to a great start with Dutch forward Donyell Malen scoring an own goal in the sixth minute.

First-half substitute Xavi Simons set up Cody Gapko to equalise two minutes after the break, but Romano Schmid headed Austria back in front in the 59th.

Memphis Depay equalized with a brilliant finish in the 75th, though he had to endure a VAR check as referee Ivan Kruzliak felt he handled the ball. The check found Depay hadn't.

But Sabitzer restored Austria's lead two minutes later with a fierce strike from a difficult angle.

It proved to be the winner despite a frenetic finale with chances at both ends.

4. Djokovic visit not enough to inspire Serbia to unlikely victory

Denmark advanced to the last 16 after a 0-0 draw with Serbia, with a visit from tennis legend Novak Djokovic not enough to inspire the underdogs to victory.

The Danes finished Group C with three points, the same as Slovenia, but ended up in second place because of a better qualifying ranking.

Denmark had most of the chances even though Serbia needed a victory to reach the next round. And almost all of those Danish opportunities came through Christian Eriksen, who was making a record 133rd appearance for his country.

Denmark and Slovenia finished even on points, goal difference, goals scored and disciplinary points.

Serbia had a goal ruled out early in the second half. Luka Jovic, one of three halftime substitutes for Serbia, was offside before Joachim Andersen bundled the ball into his own net.

Disappointed Serbian fans hurled plastic cups onto the field after the disallowed goal, causing a brief stoppage as stewards ran to clear them.

Tennis great Novak Djokovic was in the stadium in Munich to cheer on Serbia. He walked onto the field before the match to chants of “Nole, Nole” from his country’s fans.

5. Coaches won't weigh into talk of convenient draw

Even if many speculate on a mutually beneficial draw when Romania meets Slovakia on Thursday morning (AEST), the coaches do not want to hear it.

"We can't control what people talk about," Romania coach Edward Iordănescu when told pre-game chatter around Europe was of playing to win one point that would send both his team and Slovakia to the round of 16 — where Mbappé and France could await one of them.

Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona had earlier been more blunt: "I am not going to comment on that."

At Euro 2004, Italy was eliminated in the group stage unbeaten and with the same five points as Sweden and Denmark. The Swedes and Danes advanced because their 2-2 draw in the last game lifted them above Italy on the rarely used tiebreaker of goals scored.