England got their quest for a first major tournament title in 58 years off to a winning start on Sunday, as Jude Bellingham’s header was enough to beat Serbia 1-0, while the Netherlands grabbed a late 2-1 win over Poland.
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.
“I do think this time my story at the Euros is very different from the last one,” Eriksen said. “Luckily it’s been a lot of games since the last time and since it happened. I felt confident in playing again, so in that sense I was just happy to be back playing.”
Photo: Reuters
England had been hyped as one of the favorites to win UEFA Euro 2024 as manager Gareth Southgate aims to finally steer a richly talented generation to glory, but they left plenty of room for improvement in a flat tournament debut in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
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,” Bellingham said.
“I feel like in every game I can make an impact. I can decide a game,” he said. “It’s a release for me to play football, it’s my favorite thing in the world, so I don’t feel any pressure when I go out there.”
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.
Harry Kane saw a late header turned onto the bar by Serbia goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic, but England were forced to see out a nervy finale as Jordan Pickford turned over Dusan Vlahovic’s dipping drive before Kane headed away Veljko Birmancevic’s goal-bound shot.
The match had been declared as “high risk” by German police, and there were minor clashes between rival supporters before kickoff which saw seven Serbian fans taken into custody.
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.
“I am very happy. This is indescribable, especially at a final tournament. So special. This is personally a dream scenario,” Weghorst said. “The absolute goal is to win that cup together.”
Dutch fans packed the streets of Hamburg, creating an orange wall of noise hours before kickoff.
It was Poland’s supporters whose voices echoed around the Volksparkstadion when Adam Buksa headed their team in front early on, but Cody Gakpo leveled 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.
The Netherlands, who last won in 1988, are hoping to end a poor recent Euros record, having not even reached the quarter-finals since 2008.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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