England squeeze win with nervous campaign opener

A flawless record continues, with some blemishes. Gareth Southgate’s England again won a tournament opening game, on the fourth of four such occasions.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

Serbia 0

England 1

Bellingham (13)

This occasionally awkward 1-0 win over Serbia certainly wasn’t to the level of Germany’s 5-1 thrashing of Scotland, and will raise new questions over what England need to do to get to that level. Jude Bellingham, naturally the match-winner, is one of the few parts of this team where there is absolutely no doubt. His early-headed goal was the perfect illustration of that. Beyond that, though, Southgate has a bit to think about.

He knew that himself, of course. The England manager warned on the eve of the game that not every team would start like Germany, and made a point of stating the number of issues he has inherited going into Euro 2024.

Any tournament is a voyage of discovery in that regard, but Southgate still has a lot to figure out.

The Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment didn’t work, and he was inevitably taken off. Harry Kane barely touched the ball outside one admittedly brilliant striker’s header. Phil Foden was a shadow of the player we’ve seen in the Premier League. Much of this is, of course, a response to other issues, not least in defence.

There, Marc Guehi was one of England’s brighter positives. He handled a difficult task flawlessly, while quelling some doubts about him with a fine aerial display. Serbia’s physical forwards didn’t get much out of him at all.

That should offer that touch more security, as Southgate seeks to build on this. That shouldn’t be forgotten either, of course.