46 SPORT
17 JUNE 2021
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SPORTS WEEKLY SPECIAL
EURO 2020
Bring on the Scots as England make Sterling start! BY DAVID SAFFER
The Swiss bossed this encounter and would have run out comfortable England’s Euro 2020 Championship victors but a number of smart saves campaign is up and running as Gafrom Welsh keeper Danny Ward. reth Southgate’s team made the perWelsh talisman and skipper Gareth fect start with a win against Croatia in Bale struggled to impact the game. the opening Group D game. Kieffer Moore equalised for Wales Kane and co take on Scotland in a after Breel Embelo nodded in from a highly anticipated clash at Wembley corner. stadium tomorrow. Romelu Lukaka scored a brace The opening round of matches as Belgium defeated Russia 3-0 in a though was marred by shocking footGroup B fixture. age of Denmark and former TottenLukaka raced to a TV camera to ham Hotspur midfielder Cristian Erpass on a message of support to Inter ickson receiving CPR treatment after Milan teammate Eriksen after a decollapsing the clash against Finland. fensive mistake to open the scoring The match was initially abandoned in the 10th minute. Thomas Meunier but continued, Finland winning 1-0, doubled the lead when he pounced after news came through Ericsson, on a mistake by Russian keeper An29, had survived a cardiac arrest. He ton Shunin before Lukaka bagged his is in hospital have tests. second late on. Raheem Sterling justified his seFinland’s first ever finals win, lection for England with the only against Denmark, will always be rePHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK Sterling scored England’s winner against goal in a deserved triumph at a Raheem membered for the Eriksen incident Croatia sun-drenched Wembley. Man of the and swift medical reaction that saved match Kalvin Philips, who got the nod for Sterling, he noted, “He was dangerous all his life. an advanced midfield role, set up the 57th game.” After 15 minutes treatment, the Danish minute opportunity which Sterling clinically In the other group clash, Czech Republic’s midfielder was stretchered from the field. finished. Patrick Schick scored a brace, including a The Finns applauded the Denmark team Phil Foden enjoyed a fine game, almost wondergoal from halfway, to crush Scot- back on the pitch, after news came through opening the scoring on five minutes, when land’s hopes of a dream return to a major that Eriksen was awake in hospital, to finhe cut in from the right only for his left foot tournament. ish the first half, then after a short break, shot to strike the inside of a post. Phillips The Scots went behind to a Schick header the remainder of the game was played to forced a save from Croatian keeper Domin- but came out for the second half fired up. completion. ick Livakovic before imposing himself on the And they had chances before Schick sensed The hosts enjoyed the better of the match game culminating with a defence splitting Scots keeper David Marshall was off his line before Joel Pohjanpalo’s nodded home a pass for Sterling to score his first ever tour- before executing a once in a lifetime strike. 74th minute winner. nament goal. His goal sits alongside Marco van Basten’s Denmark blew a chance to equalise late Harry Kane, Mason Mount, who put in a stunning volley for Netherlands against So- on when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s spot-kick stellar shift, and Sterling almost grabbed a viet Union in the Euro ‘88 final and Paul Gas- was easily saved by Lucas Hradecky. second for England but the win was all that coigne’s solo effort against the Scots in Euro Denmark head coach Kasper Hjulmand mattered as they quickly turned their atten- ’96 as arguably the greatest ever. told reporters, “We tried to win. It was intion to the Scots. In Group A, Italy were impressive on the credible they managed to go out and try to Southgate told BBC One, “The players opening night of action, easing to a 3-0 win play the second half. Honestly, there were dealt with the big occasion really well. Right against Turkey in Rome. players out there that were completely from the start, incredible heat, they played Roberto Mancini’s side, after bossing the done. Emotionally done and emotionally well and settled early in the game. There first half, came through courtesy of a Merih exhausted.” were moments where the tempo dropped Demiral own goal from a Domenico BerNetherlands secured a dramatic 3-2 victobecause of the heat but the majority of the nardino cross alongside Ciro Immobile and ry against Ukraine in Amsterdam in Group C. game we were in control and didn’t give Cro- Lorenzo Insigne strikes. All the goals came in sensational second atia many opportunities and we looked danThis was the first time the Italians had half as the hosts built a 2-0 lead with a quickgerous.” He added, “Phillips is a player who scored three goals in a Euro finals. fire double from Georginio Wijnaldum and is so understated. He has had a fantastic start Wales dug deep to earn a share of the Wout Weghorst. Ukraine hit back with a brilto his international career. I thought he was spoils against Switzerland at the Baku Olym- liant 25-yard strike by Andriy Yarmolenko in immense throughout the game.” Regarding pic Stadium. the 75th minute before a Roman Yaremchuk
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header shortly afterwards. But Denzel Dumfries grabbed the headlines with a bullet header five minutes from time from substitute Nathan Ake’s cross. Austria enjoyed a landmark 3-1 win against North Macedonia with substitutes Marko Arnautovic and Michael Gregoritsch striking late goals. The match was level after Macedonian striker Goran Pandev capitalised on a defensive gaffe to equalise after Stefan Lainer had opened the scoring early on. Austria’s victory was their first at a Euro Championship. Slovakia are the surprise early leaders of Group E after defeating 10-man Poland 2-1 in St Petersburg. Robert Mak’s shot rebounded in off Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny for Slovakia’s opener only for Karol Linetty to finish off a fine move. Poland midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak saw red for a second booking just past the hour and Milan Skriniar fired home the winner for a shock result. Spain bossed their clash with Sweden in Seville but could not break through a resolute defence. Alvaro Morata missed the best opportunity for the hosts who also went close with a Dani Olmo header saved by Swedish keeper Robin Olsen. Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo rewrote the record books in a 3-0 win against Hungary who battled away throughout the Group F clash in Budapest. Indeed, the victors’ goals came in the last six minutes of the game. Raphael Guerreiro’s deflected shot off defender Willi Orban in the 84th minute set the defending champions on their way before Ronaldo, who missed a guilt edged chance in the first half and had quiet game, slotted in a penalty to pass Michel Platini in the alltime finals scoring list then showed his nimbleness for his second in stoppage time. Ronaldo is the first player to appear and score in five finals. Pre-tournament favorites France edged past Germany courtesy of a Mats Hummels’ own goal in the last of the opening fixtures. The match in Munich failed to match the hype. Kylian Mbappe and Adrian Rabiot went close to scoring, Mbappe and Karim Benzema had goals ruled out for offside against the Germans who lacked a cutting edge.
