EURO 2024: Real Madrid’s young star shines, England beat Serbia to take top spot. England won 1-0 against Serbia in the opening match of Group C thanks to the only goal of young star playing for Real Madrid, Jude Bellingham.
England encountered a bit of difficulty in the opening minutes as Serbia poured the concrete. But thanks to the shining moments of the stars in the squad, “Three Lions” opened the scoring in the 13th minute. Kyle Walker threw a pass along the sidelines for Bukayo Saka to cross down and cross the ball inside. After that, Jude Bellingham ran across the field and headed powerfully to score.
Bellingham’s powerful flying header (white shirt)
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The main direction of attack for the England team is the right wing, where there are two quality drills, Saka – Walker. In the first half, they created two more dangerous crosses together, but no teammate got in to finish, like Bellingham did. The Serbian team is not too inferior compared to their opponents when they own the ball 47%. However, they did not have any impressive coordination when Declan Rice provided excellent defensive support, and the central defender pair John Stones and Marc Guehi also played well.
Bellingham shines at the right time
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The Serbian team’s best chance belonged to striker Mitrovic after Trent Alexander-Arnold failed to control the ball. In the second half, the Serbian team raised their squad to find an equalizer. After 15 minutes of ineffective play, they sent two attacking stars onto the field, Luka Jovic and Dusan Tadic, and started pressing the field. Coach Gareth Southgate also did not sit still.
The England team attacked more but only scored 1 goal
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When the opponent attacked more strongly, he withdrew Alexander-Arnold from the field to replace him with Conor Gallagher, a midfielder with better fighting ability. Next, Jarrod Bowen also came on to replace Saka to refresh the England team’s attack. On the first touch of the ball, Bowen tried to break through and accurately cross the ball for Harry Kane to head in. Unfortunately, the ball hit the crossbar.
The Serbian team’s attack attempt was unsuccessful
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Towards the last minute, the Serbian team pushed harder. However, all they could do was a dangerous long shot from Vlaholic. The 1-goal advantage was maintained by the England team until the end of the match. In the end, the “Three Lions” won 1-0 to climb to the top of Group C while Serbia temporarily ranked bottom of the group.
