Jude Bellingham starred for England as they beat Serbia 1-0 of their opening Euro 2024 match.
The Three Lions had been dominant within the first half, pushing the Slavis into theirs personal half for a lot of the opening 45 minutes.
And it was the latest Champions League winner who popped up with a vital objective for Gareth Southgate’s males, powering residence a header from shut vary.
Serbia battled again and had been taking part in tough with their opponents, however they may not put the ball into the again of the web.
The second half was extremely scrappy and considerably regarding from England, however contemplating how dangerous their report is within the opening recreation of European Championships, they are going to be glad to have picked up three huge factors and put themselves on the high of Group C.
Because it occurred
As anticipated, England took full management of the sport from the very first minute.
Serbia had a noticeably huge squad, with Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic main the road.
And it was clear the tactic was to make use of them as holding centre forwards to offer their team-mates likelihood to stand up the pitch when England ultimately misplaced the ball.
Of their warm-up matches, the Three Lions struggled to interrupt down two groups who arrange in low blocks and it was all the time going to be an analogous case in opposition to their first Group C opponents.
The opening 10 minutes supplied little for the match favourites by way of probabilities.
A number of sideways passing was on show as England took their time to try to put on their opponents down.
However when the clock hit double digits, Southgate’s males sparked into life.
A terrific ball from Walker performed Saka in behind and his deflected cross was powered residence by Bellingham, a lot to the delight of the noisy crowd.
It was simply the beginning England wished having seen most of their match rivals go forward early of their opening matches they usually regarded to grab the initiative having scored the primary objective.
Trademark
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However Serbia nonetheless regarded harmful on the counter. Mitrovic reminded his opponents that they do have high quality by firing a low shot inches broad of Jordan Pickford’s submit.
Walker had an opportunity for himself not lengthy after, driving into the field however opting to try to cross the ball throughout the face of objective quite than shoot himself.
Nobody was capable of get on the top and Serbia had been spared within the second.
They took the let-off as a motivation to up their recreation they usually definitely loved extra of the ball within the build-up to half-time.
Pickford was by no means actually examined however he was livid on a couple of event on the area and time Serbia had been being allowed within the England half.
Serbia continued their surge early within the second half, with the favourites in white unable to retain the ball.
Nikola Milenkovic was getting the higher of Harry Kane and Strahinja Pavlovic was beginning to get in entrance of Saka on the right-hand facet versus letting him always run at him.
Serbia had a penalty shout waved away after Mitrovic was nudged barely by Kieran Trippier however there was no VAR test for the incident, to the fury of the gamers in purple.
The largest likelihood for England within the second half got here by means of captain Kane, and his effort regarded sure to land behind the web.
Three factors for the Three Lions
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Substitute Jarrod Bowen delivered a deep cross that the Bayern Munich man ran on to, brushing apart his man and powering a header in the direction of objective, however an enormous save from Rajkovic pushed the ball onto the bar and Serbia cleared the unfastened ball.
The ultimate ten minutes of the match had been definitely nervous for the Three Lions.
Serbia had thrown so many attackers on that the sport was changing into extremely open and Pickford was compelled right into a flying save to disclaim Vlahovic from distance.
The dying moments had been all about killing the sport for England they usually had been completely happy to simply sit in and take up the strain.
It was not fairly, however Southgate’s males managed to get the job finished and decide up their first three factors of the match.
What subsequent for England and Serbia at Euro 2024?
England’s Euro 2024 marketing campaign continues in 4 days after they face Denmark on 20 June.
A win will probably assure them a spot within the knockout phases but when they want it, they tackle Slovenia of their remaining group stage recreation on 25 June.
Serbia will tackle the identical opponents as England in reverse order.
First up is Slovenia on 20 June after which they face Denmark on 25 June.
