England 1-0 Serbia: Bellingham shines at EURO 2024

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The crowd of enthusiastic England fans put their arms around each other's shoulders. "Hey Juuuuude...!" , "Hey Juuuuude...!" , they shouted in the style of The Beatles' immortal song.

Everyone is confident Jude Bellingham will have a special performance as England prepare to enter their EURO 2024 opener against Serbia.

Bellingham England Serbia 1 0.jpg — Bellingham's picture-perfect scoring moment

The crowd filled a quarter of the Arena AufSchalke stands, but there were even more people singing "Hey Jude" and "It's coming home" scattered outside the stadiums in Gelsenkirchen, Oberhausen, Essen, and Dusseldorf.

For days, the British brought a lively atmosphere to the Ruhr basin, a contrast to the land that is home to some of Germany's old industrial cities, bounded by the three rivers Ruhr, Rhine and Lippe.

They appeared in white uniforms and flags with red and white crosses, partying on every rooftop, having fun while waiting for the big moment.

Mystical revelation. A faith that never dies. Truly British, for the brave.

The final game was without much creativity, but crucially, the difference was made with a picture-perfect header to free an England side who were being hassled by Serbia until the final seconds.

Of course, that picture belongs to Bellingham, who conquered Germany in his own way with Dortmund and has just had a season more spectacular than he could have imagined with Real Madrid.

Bellingham UK Serbia euro.jpg — Bellingham shines on England

Now, Jude returns to Germany to make his mark in his first start at a EURO (3 years ago, he was on the field 3 times and all from the bench).

Bellingham opened the ball from midfield to the right wing for Kyle Walker, then Bukayo Saka with a dangerous cross. Jude ran very fast, like a train, pushed Zivkovic away and headed the ball into the Serbian net (record for a headed goal in the history of the European Championship).

Southgate lacks ideas

1: Jude Bellingham becomes the first player to score for England in both the EURO and World Cup while playing for a foreign club.

20 years 353 days: Bellingham is the first European player to play in three major international tournaments before his 21st birthday. He played in EURO 2020, the 2022 World Cup and now EURO 2024.

Gareth Southgate said the EUROs "are a festival of football" in his pre-match press conference. But there was no festival of football over the last 90 minutes.

Not wanting to leave his favorite student Alexander-Arnold on the bench, Southgate placed Liverpool's right-back in the midfield role, next to Delan Rice.

Kobbie Mainoo and Adam Wharton, the younger players who have been more prominent in central midfield roles, have been benched, which severely limits England's ability to build up play.

Alexander-Arnold has always had a natural tendency to drift to his preferred right flank. As a result, England lacked a pure midfielder, in a game where Serbia were largely deployed in the middle of the pitch.

England won in the match with the worst attacking quality since EURO 1980.

Southgate ’s setup meant England failed to get their first passes right. When they reached the final third, where Serbia were waiting with a well-organised defence, it felt like Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane were overlapping each other too often.

In other words, they had no idea how to break down the tight defence around the Serbian penalty area. Bellingham's goal was simply a moment of individual brilliance.

Looking at the squad, England are probably the most talented team in Europe. But the system Southgate has built overshadows Foden - the best player in the Premier League in 2023-24, as well as isolates captain Harry Kane (he has only 1 shot, 12 passes with 75% accuracy).

At the back, the brilliance of John Stones, Walker and above all Declan Rice kept England on their toes. Had it not been for Arsenal's most expensive midfielder, Serbia would have surely equalised.

Bellingham rescued the Three Lions in a match with the worst attacking quality in a EURO finals since 1980: only 11 shots, 5 from England and 6 from Serbia.

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