England 1-0 Croatia
England had never won their opening game at a European Championship tournament – at the 10th attempt, they have now!
Yes, they will have to face better opponents than Croatia this summer.
Yes, the 2018 World Cup finalists did not even have an out-and-out centre forward for most of this encounter.
But this was an ideal start for the Three Lions at Euro 2020 and a modicum of revenge in a repeat of the 2018 World Cup semi-final.
Highlights of the game
Over the next month or so Gareth Southgate will be under more scrutiny than the Prime Minister and a certain royal baby’s name.
And that was the case before a ball was even kicked as the England boss included Kieran Trippier, predominantly at right-back, at left-back in his starting XI.
Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips were also included which meant Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish and Luke Shaw were among those on the bench.
Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic and Ante Rebic all featured as Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic named six of the side that started the 2018 World Cup Final in Russia.
At a national stadium experiencing financial difficulties, not helped again by a significantly reduced crowd, the heat made it difficult and both sides struggled to create too many Euro 2020 highlights in an attacking sense.
Croatia were also aware England had home advantage, a point star man Modric acknowledged, and they were nearly behind within five minutes as Foden cut inside and curled a shot which rattled the foot of the far post.
Phillips then forced goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic into a low save as England made an impressive start.
Perisic screwed over as Croatia reminded England of their undoubted talent and also gave England a scare at the start of the second half.
Then, 11 minutes after the restart, came the breakthrough as Phillips sidestepped a couple of weak challenges and played in Sterling whose finish was cool, despite Livakovic getting a touch.
One nearly became two as Mason Mount picked out Kane who seemed set to score only for Duje Caleta-Car to get his body in the way.
Croatia’s best chance arrived when a drive from Mateo Kovacic’ was blocked and the ball came out to Ante Rebic who dragged his shot wide.
It was to prove their best chance and England came closest to doubling their advantage as Mount’s free-kick sailed just too high. Sterling’s goal, though, was sufficient.
Along with fellow group opponents, the Czech Republic, Croatia will fly to Britain and back home again for each of their three group games because they say Scottish quarantine rules in case of an outbreak are too restrictive.
They should still have too much quality to secure a place in the last 16 but the SBOTOP Euro 2020 betting odds suggest reaching another final is unlikely.
As for England, the next few weeks will either be an adventure or a soap opera – as adventures go, this was a good start.
For those who believe in omens, Croatia have lost against the eventual winner in three of their last four major tournaments (World Cup + European Championships): Spain at Euro 2012 (group stages), Portugal at Euro 2016 (round of 16) and France at World Cup 2018 (final).
England expect.
Key Statistics
Sterling has been directly involved in 19 goals in his last 17 England games (13 goals, six assists), while the Three Lions have won all 11 of the games he has scored in.
Tyrone Mings was the first Aston Villa player to start for England at the European Championships since current manager Southgate against Germany in 1996.
Phillips is the first Leeds player to assist a goal at Wembley since David Batty in 1999 against Luxembourg.
Aged 17 years and 349 days, Jude Bellingham is now the youngest ever player to appear in the European Championship finals for any nation, and the youngest English player to play in any major tournament (World Cup & Euros).
This was the 11th meeting between England and Croatia and the sixth England triumph.
England have won their last seven games, keeping a clean sheet in six of those match-ups.
The Three Lions have never lost at Wembley in a major tournament (World Cup 1966, Euro 1996), winning eight and drawing four of their 12 games (penalty shoot-outs excluded).
What’s next?
Group D combat resumes towards the end of the week. It’s the ‘auld enemy’ clash at Wembley on Friday night (June 18) as Scotland, competing in their first major tournament since 1998, are the visitors.
Croatia entertain the Czech Republic a few hours earlier, ironically at Scotland’s Hampden Park.
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