Harry Kane and England made a winning start to their European Championship campaign on Sunday evening. The Bayern attacker celebrated a 1-0 victory over Serbia , setting another historic record for his home country in the process: for the record goalscorer, who was on the pitch for the entire match, it was his 23rd appearance at a major tournament - no other England player has made as many appearances at the World Cup or European Championship finals.
Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham (13th minute) put the favourites ahead with the first good chance of the match. However, Gareth Southgate's team then struggled to break down the Serbs' compact defence - the English side were barely able to create any clear-cut chances to increase the lead. Kane had the best opening in the 77th minute with a header from just under five yards out, but Serbia keeper Predrag Rajković made a brilliant save to turn the effort onto the crossbar.
Kane: Deserved win
"We knew it would be a difficult game against a physical team that plays a lot of long balls. But overall we did well and deserved to win, I think. We're in the group stage, it's all about getting through," said England captain Kane afterwards.
Harry Kane (2nd from left) captained England in their European Championship opener
With the win, Kane and Co. go top of their EURO 2024 preliminary round Group C, as their upcoming opponents Denmark could only manage a 1-1 draw with Slovenia in the afternoon. England's clash with the Danes is on Thursday at 18:00 CEST in Frankfurt.
Matthijs de Ligt on the bench for Dutch win
Matthijs de Ligt warming up for the Netherlands' opener against Poland in Hamburg
The Netherlands, for whom FC Bayern defender Matthijs de Ligt did not get off the bench, had already faced and beaten Poland in the afternoon. Hoffenheim striker Wout Weghorst (83rd minute) scored late on in Hamburg to secure a 2-1 victory for the Elftal. Earlier, Cody Gakpo (29) had equalised for Ronald Koeman's team after Poland had taken an early lead through Adam Buksa (16). The Netherlands now continue their campaign next Friday (21:00 CEST) with a clash against France, who do not start their tournament until Monday evening (21:00 CEST) against Austria.
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