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England got off to a winning start at Euro 2024 thanks to Jude Bellingham's first-half goal as Serbia proved unable to find an equaliser despite putting in an admirable display after going
behind.
The Three Lions led at the break following Bellingham's early opener, which came courtesy of a sharp reaction to get onto the trajectory of a deflected Bukayo Saka cross from the right.
Serbia showed plenty of endeavour either side of half-time as they pushed for a leveller, however, with Gareth Southgate's side dropping deeper and deeper and inviting pressure upon
themselves in the process.
Despite heavily dominating the territory, though, Serbia were frustrated in their efforts to carve out real clear-cut chances for themselves in the face of a stubborn England back line.
England were able to start incurring into the Serbian half as the second half wore on, with substitute Jarrod Bowen going close to claiming an assist moments after coming on only for Predrag
Rajkovic to superbly push the hitherto anonymous Harry Kane's header onto the bar.
Jordan Pickford came up big for England a few minutes later, getting up to turn Dusan Vlahovic's long-range strike over the bar before Kane headed away a goal-bound Veljko Birmancevic effort
from the resultant corner.
If England win their next game, against Denmark on Thursday, they will be certain to go through to the knockout stages. If Serbia also got at least a point against Slovenia, England would
also be guaranteed to finish top of Group C.
We've heard from several pundits already at this tournament that one win is usually enough to get you through to the next round on its own, but that depends on whether you take usually to
mean 'virtually certainly' or 'on balance of probabilities'.
Since the Euros changed to a 24-team format in Euro 2016, five of the 16 teams eliminated at the group stage have claimed at least one win only to go out regardless.
You may also recall that Portugal went through as one of the best third-place ranking sides despite drawing all three of their group games at Euro 2016 - only to go on and win the entire
tournament.
The magic number in fact seems to be four points: no side who has reached that tally has yet been eliminated from a 24-team Euros.
That means that although history suggests there's a nice 69% chance that England will reach the knockouts regardless, earning one more point against either Denmark or Slovenia would make
their standing a lot more certain.
'Jordan Pickford is one of Europe's best, better than Donnarumma. I question why he’s not playing for a team higher up Premier League' – David James gives verdict on England Euro 2024
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Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his
own publication, WeAreTerriers.com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and
2023.