Manchester City\u2019s Raheem Sterling finally found his international tournament touch in the 61st-minute when his solitary England goal gave the Three Lions team a deserved 1-0 win over Croatia at Wembley on Sunday as they began a European Championship with an opening victory for the first time in nine attempts.<\/p>\n
Sterling, a surprise starter after a bit of a whimpering end to his domestic season but a confirmed favorite of manager Gareth Southgate, found the net after stellar work by Kalvin Phillips to end an individual drought that had persisted through England\u2019s three previous major tournaments.<\/p>\n
“It feels good. I grew up two minutes down the road, so I knew I had to score here, and it was a great feeling to do it,” said the Wembley-raised forward.<\/p>\n
Southgate disclosed he was ignorant of England’s previous run of successive opening-game failures despite having played in one of them in 1996. And, with rock-solid composure as usual, he was not getting carried away by the team\u2019s solid although unexceptional display.<\/p>\n
“It’s for everybody else to get excited and throw their beer around and do whatever they want,” he said. “It’s brilliant to give that joy to people. But for us, it’s on to the next one and preparing for a really tough game on Friday (against Scotland).<\/p>\n
“But I was really pleased with the way we settled so quickly. Big occasion, sweltering hot day, every reason to look nervous at the start, but we didn’t. With and without the ball, we were composed. Although it was always going to be a game of few clear chances, we looked the bigger threat throughout.”<\/p>\n
The game lacked the jeopardy of the teams\u2019 2018 World Cup semi-final, won by Croatia, and losing on Sunday was no disaster for them given the way the draw pans out, but it was a morale-boosting victory for England as they set off once again in search of their first title since 1966.<\/p>\n
Roared on by a noisy 22,500 crowd \u2013- a quarter of Wembley\u2019s capacity — they started full of bright intentions and put huge pressure on the visitors.<\/p>\n
Another bright spot in the day for England was the introduction of substitute Jude Bellingham who, at 17 years and 349 days, became the youngest player to appear in the European Championship finals.<\/p>\n
Croatia also threw on their attacking subs as they tried to show a bit more ambition but though England\u2019s defence looked a little shaky at times there were few chances for an equalizer as, conversely to England, they lost their opening Euro match for the first time in their six tournaments.<\/p>\n
“We didn’t do enough up front and couldn’t engineer our trademark fast-flowing moves, but I am optimistic that we’ll improve and get it right in the next two games,” said coach Zlatko Dalic.<\/p>\n
They are against Scotland and the Czech Republic, who meet on Monday, with Croatia playing the Czechs in Glasgow on Friday.<\/p>\n
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