England Wins Thin Vs Serbia, Southgate: We Suffer

England coach Gareth Southgate. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - England coach Gareth Southgate said he was quite satisfied with the performance of his children in a narrow 1-0 win over Serbia in their first match in Group C of the 2024 European Cup, local Sunday or Monday 17 June morning WIB.

"I'm really happy with a lot going on in the game, especially in the first half. We used the ball very well. In the second half, we didn't play as well as we needed, but to win and start with what we have is really important," Southgate said as quoted from UEFA's official website.

England's appearance looks less convincing as one of the teams predicted to be a candidate for the 2024 European Cup champion. In addition to the five attempts and three attempts that led to the goal, mainstay striker Harry Kane was only able to carve out one chance from his header which was pushed over by goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic in the second half.

Southgate also considered that Serbia was indeed a tough opponent to face.

They are a strong team. We suffered a little bit, which I think is really good for us to be able to deal with and defend our penalty box while under pressure. This is really important for the group," Southgate said.

The coach also did not hesitate to praise Bellingham, whose single goal secured England's victory over Serbia.

"He wrote the script himself, right? Setting his running time, his game while building goals was also very good. At other moments, all of our forwards looked dangerous and did a good job for the team," said the coach.

On the other hand, Bellingham is very grateful for being able to score the winner for the Three Lions.

"It feels really special to be able to score goals anytime for England, especially those that gave us a win and three points, and hopefully that becomes the basis for a good performance," said the Real Madrid player.

England will next face Denmark on Thursday, June 20, before closing the group stage by meeting Slovenia on Wednesday, June 26.