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By FotMob
16
Jun
2024
match_4043849
14
Jun
2024
Preview: Serbia vs. England
That the pressure has been turned up a little under the England squad ahead of their opening Euro 2024 match against Serbia can only really be considered to be a combination of bad luck and self-infliction.
By Ian King
On the one hand, it is unfortunate to run up injuries to key defenders, especially when they were looking pretty threadbare on that front to start with. But on the other, the Iceland performance – so much toil for just the one shot on target all night – was worryingly stagnant, and not for the first time since beating Italy convincingly at Wembley last October. England may have primarily been playing friendlies since that night, but they’ve been doing so with little to show for them.
They were tepid in their last two Euro qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia – a 2-0 win and a 1-1 draw – disappointing against both Brazil and Belgium – a defeat and a scrambled draw, this time – mildly improved against Bosnia & Herzegovina and then lousy against Iceland. You can already feel the storm clouds forming in the distance. The question is, how much stronger might they be by the end of Sunday evening? England need a strong start to out-run them.
At least Serbia can’t do a great deal worse than they did at the last World Cup when, having already lost their opening match to Brazil, they threw away a two-goal lead against Cameroon to draw 3-3 and then lost to Switzerland to confirm their elimination from the tournament in bottom place in their group. They will arrive in Gelsenkirchen with little to lose, and with Aleksandar Mitrović still leading their front line they have the potential to strong-arm their way past England.
England have the muscle to be able to win this game with comfort. Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden were the players of the year in Spain and England respectively. Harry Kane may not have won any silverware in his first season at Bayern Munich, but it can hardly be said that Kane didn’t pull his weight, scoring 36 goals in 32 games in the Bundesliga and 45 goals in 44 games in all competitions. Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were in outstanding form throughout the league season.
But English teams have ended up as less than the sum of their parts before, and if they want to progress in this tournament England may need to beat themselves first. Good times never felt so vulnerable.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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