England begin Euros with Serbia win, Dutch edge Poland
England got their quest for a first major tournament title in 58 years off to a winning start as Jude Bellingham's header was enough to beat Serbia 1-0, while the Netherlands grabbed a late 2-1 win over Poland on Sunday. Christian Eriksen enjoyed a fairytale return to the European Championship, three years after suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch, by scoring the opening goal, but Denmark were held 1-1 by Slovenia. England had been hyped as one of the favourites for the tournament as Gareth Southgate aims to finally steer a richly-talented generation to glory. However, they left plenty of room for improvement in a flat tournament debut in Gelsenkirchen. Bellingham was the exception as the Real Madrid midfielder confirmed his status as one of the world's rising stars with a man-of-the-match display. "The first half showed why we can score goals against any team and the second half showed why we can keep clean sheets against any team," said Bellingham. The 20-year-old became the first European player to grace three major tournaments before turning 21. And he capped a brilliant individual display with the only goal when he headed in Bukayo Saka's deflected cross on 13 minutes. England were forced to see out a nervy finale as Jordan Pickford turned over Dusan Vlahovic's dipping drive before Harry Kane headed away Veljko Birmancevic's goalbound shot. For the Netherlands, Wout Weghorst struck in the 83rd minute, just two minutes after coming on as a substitute, to secure an opening Group D victory against Poland, who were without the injured Robert Lewandowski. It was the Poland supporters whose voices echoed around the Volksparkstadion when Adam Buksa headed their team in front early on, but Cody Gakpo levelled an entertaining encounter before the half-hour mark with the aid of a deflection. Gakpo, Memphis Depay and Denzel Dumfries all went close as the missed chances piled up for the Oranje, and Ronald Koeman's men looked to be running out of ideas until Weghorst swooped to slot home a deserved winner. Eriksen collapsed during Denmark's opening game at the delayed Euro 2020. Exactly 1,100 days on, the Manchester United midfielder put the Danes in front with a sweet strike in Stuttgart. "I do think this time my story at the Euros is very different from the last one," said Eriksen. (AFP)