A goal from Jude Bellingham was enough for England to be happy for their first match in Group C (1-0). But the reigning vice-champions did not really convince against the Serbs who could have grabbed a point in Gelsenkirchen.
The English, however, honored their status as favorites at the start of the match with a certain Jude Bellingham in charge. The providential man of Real Madrid quickly showed that he was going to occupy a costume similar to that which is his with the “Merengue”.
He found himself in the right place at the right time to head a deflected cross from Bukayo Saka into the back of Predrag Rajkovic’s net (13th). It was enough for the cohort of English supporters to sing “Hey Jude”, the Beatles’ hit inevitably associated with Golden Boy, at the top of their lungs.
Bellingham everywhere, Kane nowhere
A statistic came to confirm Bellingham’s control over the game of the “Three Lions”: at half-time, he had already touched 55 balls. Its captain Harry Kane, who was celebrating a record 23rd appearance for England in an international competition, had only been able to set foot on the leather twice…
The top scorer of the English selection nevertheless came out of his lair in the second period, when he forced a reflex save from Rajkovic allowing the Serbs to maintain hope (77th). A hope that the Eagles never gave up, even after the early opening score of the favorites of this group C.
Aleksandar Mitrovic could well have equalized in the 20th minute after Trent Alexander-Arnold lost the ball near his area, but the Al-Hilal striker’s effort skimmed Jordan Pickford’s post. Despite this warning, Gareth Southgate’s men, sometimes messy, failed to score a second time. They could even have conceded the equalizer without a nice save from Pickford on a long shot from Dusan Vlahovic (82nd).
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ats/tzing
