England and the Netherlands earn narrow wins in their Euro 2024 openers, while Denmark was held in a 1-1 draw with Slovenia on Sunday.
The 17th edition of Europe’s premier continental competition had averaged four goals in a match before kickoff on day three but there was a lot to be desired at the end of the three games of the day.
Here is how it went on the day across the three venues in Germany.
A Deja vu for Ronald Koeman on return to Volksparkstadion
The Netherlands come from a goal down to beat Poland and secure a win in the UEFA European Championships to get their campaign off to a good start.
On his debut in a major tournament, Adam Buksa gave Poland an early lead in the 16th-minute, heading home a Piotr Zielinski’s corner to produce the country’s first first-half goal in a group match in the UEFA EURO finals since 2012.
Although, Poland has scored seven goals in that period, all of them had come in the second-half of games. It was a promising start for Michal Probierz’s men, who were winless in their previous 12 meetings with the Dutch.
The lead was canceled out by Cody Gakpo, who made it two in his last two against Poland. The Liverpool forward received the ball from Nathan Ake and ran to the edge of the box before firing defected shot past Wojciech Szczesny just before the half-hour mark.
Substitute Wout Weghorst scored the winner with his first touch off the bench in the 83rd minute, making it his seventh goal in last 11 international appearances.
It was a day of deja vu for Ronald Koeman, who returned to the stadium as a manager after he had played in there as a player around 36 years ago, in a match that became famous for his using the Germany shirt to wipe his arse.
It was a semi-final match between West Germany and the Netherlands, where the Dutch came from a goal down to eliminate the host in a 2-1 win, and moved into the final thanks to a late Marco Van Basten goal.
Koeman, who was pivotal in that match and even scored the equalizer from the penalty spot watched his team did the same courtesy of another late winner. He won’t be less pleased with the outcome after falling behind so early.
Up next for the Netherlands is a date with one of the heavy favourites France on Friday, while Poland will fancy their chance against Austria in the second kick-off on the same day.
Slovenia stop Denmark in first Euro 2024 stalemate
Every outfield player that started for Denmark against Slovenia attempted at least a shot, a phenomenon that only happened for the third time in UEFA European Championship history since 1980.
Inspite of that, Christian Eriksen‘s 17th-minute goal was all they could produce in a frustrating draw against Slovenia Stuttgart.
The Manchester United midfielder, on his return to the tournament after suffering a cardiac arrest 1,100 days ago whilst playing in the previous edition opened the scoring with his 42nd Denmark goal.
Slovenia stayed in the game despite the pressure from their opponent and their perseverance paid dividends in the latter stages of the game.
After seeing his ferocious effort come off the crossbar, Benjamin Sesko kept up the pressure and forced a corner kick, which resulted in the equalizer for his country.
The resulting corner was headed into the path of Erik Janza, whose ambitious effort took a wicked deflection off Morten Hjulmand and into the back of the net, leaving Kasper Schmeichel in no man’s land.
It finished all square and so the first in this edition of the tournament, while it also means Denmark stretched their unbeaten run against Slovenia to seven games — five wins and two draws.
Unconvincing England off to a winning start
Jude Bellingham scored in the 13th minute to seal a winning start for England’s Three Lions as they look to go one better than their second place finish in the previous edition three years ago.
Gareth Southgate‘s minions headed into the game on the back of an unconvincing pre-tournament form, which had earned them a lot of criticism few days before the tournament kicked off in Germany.
England lost 1-0 to Iceland in their final preparation game and even if they look like a favorite in Euro 2024 on papers, their infield performances leave a lot to be desired.
Bukayo Saka’s deflected cross was headed home by Jude Bellingham, who scored his 26th goal and 41st goal involvement of what has been a remarkable season.
Bellingham, who became the youngest player to feature in three major tournaments for England registered what is his fourth international goal, taking him level with Manchester City’s Phil Foden.
England went on to create a couple more chances but could not finish as it ended 1-0, with Serbia having no real glance at Jordan Pickford in goal for England.
England move top of the group and will face Denmark in their next game, while Serbia battles Slovenia.
