England debuted in this European Championship with victory. The Southgate men beat Croatia 1-0 at Wembley thanks to the solitary goal of Raheem Sterling , which allows the English to add three points against a direct rival and send a warning to sailors: they want to lift this title for the first time in their history .
Soccer and Wembley , there is possibly no better combination. But if we also talk about a European Championship and we count that England is measured against Croatia , Sunday’s plan is already unmatched. Summer afternoon, with a sun shining directly on the temple of football in the United Kingdom and 22,500 spectators, a pity that the reduced capacity prevented 90,000 people from seeing 90,000 souls in its stands but, calm, there are already less.
The two favorite teams to fight for the lead in group D jumped onto the pitch and with the ball rolling, England showed their cards. Gareth Southgate’s men wanted to send and after five minutes Phil Foden , with that dyed hair reminiscent of Paul Gascoigne or Eminem, hit the post with a shot that well deserved to have finished in a goal to the delight of the English hooligans.
Livakovic also had work and had to put in a good hand to prevent Phillips’ volley from getting into his goal. England , through Sterling or Mount , were looking for Harry Kane , but could not find the Tottenham striker. Between that search, Croatia was waking up thanks to the ubiquitous Perisic and Luka Modric’s football, but they failed to put Jordan Pickford in a tight spot with shots.
Sterling ‘does’ Kane
With 0-0 both teams went to the changing rooms and on the return Croatia managed to lock up an England that suffered when the ball passed through Modric’s feet. Luka put Pickford to the test with a long shot and the English goalkeeper emerged the winner of that duel. It was difficult for Southgate to get out, but in one of those Kalvin Phillips an individual play was made in which he ended up leaving only a Sterling who appeared in the center and did not fail in the one on one.
Total madness at Wembley and could have exploded in ecstasy minutes later if Harry Kane had been able to push a Mount cross to the far post, a post against which the Three Lions battering ram ended up. Croatia reacted and responded again, but Rebic was not successful in a rebound that fell on his feet, nor was a Mount that was a few centimeters short to make a goal from a free-kick by the squad.
Time passed and Croatia was already beginning to act desperately. England , for its part, was ironically behind without giving much to the chess team. The English endured the 4 minutes of addition and started Euro 2020 with a victory and with Sterling presenting the British candidacy to be champions of the tournament.
