Bellingham the hero as Three Lions start Euro 2024 with win

Jude Bellingham starred for England as they beat Serbia 1-0 in their opening Euro 2024 match.

The Three Lions were dominant in the first half, pushing the Slavis into theirs own half for much of the opening 45 minutes.

And it was the recent Champions League winner who popped up with a crucial goal for Gareth Southgate’s men, powering home a header from close range.

Serbia battled back and were playing rough with their opponents, but they could not put the ball into the back of the net.

The second half was incredibly scrappy and somewhat concerning from England, but considering how bad their record is in the opening game of European Championships, they will be glad to have picked up three big points and put themselves at the top of Group C.

As it happened

As expected, England took complete control of the game from the very first minute.

Serbia had a noticeably big squad, with Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic leading the line.

And it was clear the tactic was to use them as holding centre forwards to give their team-mates chance to get up the pitch when England eventually lost the ball.

In their warm-up matches, the Three Lions struggled to break down two teams who set up in low blocks and it was always going to be a similar case against their first Group C opponents.

The opening 10 minutes offered little for the tournament favourites in terms of chances.

A lot of sideways passing was on display as England took their time to try and wear their opponents down.

But when the clock hit double digits, Southgate’s men sparked into life.

A great ball from Walker played Saka in behind and his deflected cross was powered home by Bellingham, much to the delight of the noisy crowd.

It was just the start England wanted having seen most of their tournament rivals go ahead early in their opening matches and they looked to seize the initiative having scored the first goal.

Trademark 📸#EURO2024 | #SRBENG pic.twitter.com/U8Ov4wSEo0

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024)…

Source link : https://www.101greatgoals.com/news/serbia-0-1-england-euro-2024-jude-bellingham/

Author : Mitch Fretton

Publish date : 2024-06-16 21:01:03

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