England's midfielder Jude Bellingham celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA Euro 2024 Group C football match between Serbia and England. Photo: AFP
An early header by Jude Bellingham was enough for England to beat Serbia 1-0 in their Group C opener at the European Championship as they ground out a victory from a contest they initially dominated.
England took the lead in the 13th minute when Bellingham burst into the six-yard box to power home a header from a deflected Bukayo Saka cross, finishing off a move that the 20-year-old maestro launched himself deep in midfield.
Gareth Southgate's side controlled possession but struggled to turn their domination into scoring opportunities against a Serbia side that defended deep and ended the first half with no goal attempts at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen.
Serbia looked livelier in the second half albeit without creating clear-cut chances and goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic had to make a stunning reflex save that bounced off the crossbar to keep out a Harry Kane close-range header in the 77th minute.
England top Group C with three points, Denmark and Slovenia have one and Serbia none.
Denmark captain Christian Eriksen marked a memorable return to the European Championship three years after suffering a cardiac arrest at the previous edition of the tournament, scoring the goal that secured a 1-1 draw with Slovenia in Stuttgart.
The 32-year-old missed his team's run to the semi-final in 2021 after his shock on-pitch collapse in the opening match against Finland.
On Sunday he did not waste any time to put the trauma of that game behind him as he played his first Euro game since then.
Meanwhile striker Wout Weghorst came off the bench to snatch a late winner with his first touch and give the Netherlands a deserved 2-1 comeback victory over Poland in their Group D opener in Hamburg.
Weghorst had barely been on the field when he slid home Nathan Ake's perfect pass into the area in the 83rd minute to send the tens of thousands of "Oranje" fans at Hamburg's Volksparkstadion into raptures.
As expected, the Dutch dominated from the off with slick-passing attacks. But they were shocked in the 16th minute when Adam Buksa, replacing Poland's injured talisman Robert Lewandowski, rose above three defenders to flick home stand-in captain Piotr Zielinski's corner.
The Dutch equalised in the 29th minute with a low shot by livewire forward Cody Gakpo from outside the area that took a deflection off defender Bartosz Salamon to beat Wojciech Szczesny.
The other group D match is tomorrow between Austria and France.
- Reuters