Roundup of the latest Euro 2020 action as England met Croatia in Group D whilst Austria, North Macedonia, Netherlands and Ukraine contested Group C openers.
As the footballing world continues to reel from Saturday’s dramatic events in Copenhagen, today (13 June) delivered three cracking contests packed with nervy moments and a dramatic climax in Amsterdam.
Now here is a full in-depth roundup of today’s action starting at Wembley Stadium, London.
England 1-0 Croatia
England made a bright start in a 4-2-3-1 formation as Phil Foden saw a sixth minute curled shot go begging, before Duje Caleta-Car fouled Raheem Sterling moments later with Kalvin Phillips’ resulting shot from a corner cleared.
Harry Kane, Phillips and Sterling all went on to see further shots wasted with Croatia failing to create any real opportunities until Sime Vrsaljko curled 27th minute cross was put over by Ivan Perisic, in what the last notable chance of the first half as players began to tire due to the English heat before half-time.
Upon the restart, it was more of the same until Croatia’s Luka Modric unleashed a 55th minute shot which was saved by Jordan Pickford.
England immediately went up the other end as Kyle Walker played Phillips through up the right with the Leeds midfielder cutting in from the right flank, only to slip the ball through for Sterling to fire in from close range to put the hosts ahead in the 57th minute.
Kane missed a huge chance to double England’s lead four minutes later as John Stones’ pass was flicked on by Foden to Sterling, who unleashed Mason Mount up the left to cross into the box but Kane could only fire wide as he collided with the right post of the goal frame.
Ante Rebic, Marcelo Brozovic and Perisic all went on to miss huge equalising chances for Croatia, as Mount put a 67th minute free-kick over the top left corner and Sterling blasted Tyrone Mings’ pullback over the bar for the Three Lions.
Croatia however eventually struggled to create much in the closing stages as England clung on for victory, despite dropping deeper in the last 15 minutes as cramp set in for various players on both teams due to the hot weather conditions.
Austria 3-1 North Macedonia
A scrappy start saw the first proper chance fall in the tenth minute as Enis Bardhi tried to play through into the box for Goran Pandev, only for Daniel Bachmann to save his effort.
Austria however snatched the opening goal out of nowhere eight minutes later as Marcel Sabitzer whipped in a cross from the left, finding the right foot of Stefan Lainer at the far post to volley in across goal.
Sabitzer soon afterwards created a second chance in the 22nd minute as he delivered a cross to Sasa Kalajdzic but Stole Dimitrievski was alert to save it.
North Macedonia however refused to sit back as Ezgjan Alioski’s ball towards the box caused a defensive mix-up, allowing Aleksandar Trajkovski to flick the ball towards Pandev as he collided with Bachmann to leave Pandev to fire his equaliser into an empty net.
Both teams then wasted various chances throughout the closing stages and much of the second half with Florian Grillitsch going closest, as his header forced a clearance from Dimitrievski to stop it going into the top right corner in the 64th minute.
Austria eventually forced two late goals as Michael Gregoritsch poked in from David Alaba’s 78th minute curled cross, before Marko Arnautovic wrapped up a 3-1 win with a 90th minute strike following an one-two move with Konrad Laimer.
Netherlands 3-2 Ukraine
Ukraine made a bright start but struggled to create a chance with a loose second minute pass being intercepted by Memphis Depay on the break, which came to nothing after a solo run as Heorhiy Bushchan saved his low shot.
Andriy Yarmolenko then wasted two chances up the other end just moments later, as Denzel Dumfries and Georginio Wijnaldum went on to waste various first half chances with Netherlands dominating until half-time.
Frank De Boer’s Oranje saw their best chance of the first half fall in the 38th minute as Depay’s short overhead pass was only cleared to Wijnaldum who fired towards goal on the volley but found Bushchan who swiftly cleared.
Netherlands eventually found their breakthrough seven minutes into the second half as Wijnaldum blasted in on the rebound after Bushchan spilled his save of Depay’s low cross.
Wout Weghorst added a second just six minutes later as he fired in from Denzel Dumfries’ chipped pullback flick into the 28 year-old’s path.
Ukraine however didn’t give in and Yarmolenko pulled a goal back in the 75th minute as Roman Yaremchuk laid the ball off for Yarmolenko to pick up and curl across into the top left corner from outside of the box.
Yaremchuk then seemingly completed Ukraine’s comeback just four minutes later as he headed in from Ruslan Malinovskyi’s deep free-kick to level the score at 2-2 apiece.
Dumfries however had other ideas up the other end in the 85th minute as he headed Nathan Ake’s cross into the bottom right corner, to seal a dramatic 3-2 victory that put Netherlands second on goal difference from Austria with Ukraine sat third ahead of North Macedonia in Group C.
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