Wembley: Raheem Sterling’s 12th minute goal helped England grab all three points against the Czech Republic to top Group D with seven points at the Euro 2020 on Wednesday. Elsewhere, Croatia defeated Scotland 3-1 in Glasgow to take second place in the group.
While England and Croatia have already qualified for the pre-quarterfinals, Czech Republic’s fate would be decided on the results of other group matches as four best third-placed teams will make it to the round of 16.
England could have gone ahead early in the game when he hit the post in the second minute. However, he didn’t have to wait for long as the Manchester City forward headed home from a Jack Grealish assist 10 minutes later. Harry Kane forced a save out of Tomas Vaclik in the first half. Grealish and Bukayo Saka brought energy and pace during the first half.
Jordan Henderson could have got his maiden international goal on 60 minutes but it was ruled offside. “I think there are positives from the game. We kept the ball better today. It gave us more attacking options. We got in the gaps really well, played some good football and got the goal we needed,” Sterling said.
Elsewhere, Nikola Vlasic put Croatia ahead on 17 minutes against Scotland. Ivan Perisic headed across to Vlasic which he fired into the back of the net. Scotland missed Billy Gilmour due to COVID-19 and seemed to have lost their way after going down as Croatia dominated the possession.
However, a poor clearance fell on to Callum McGregor as he struck the equalizer for Steve Clarke’s side on 42 minutes. Croatia got their lead back on 62 minutes when Luka Modric received a ball from Mateo Kovacic who struck a curler past David Marshall.
Modric put an end to Scotland’s dream to reach the next round as he paired up with Perisic, who scored the third for his team on 77 minutes hence bring all the points home. “After tonight’s performance, we’d have been able to walk off the pitch with our heads high even if we had lost,” said Modric.
