Raheem Sterling scored his first goal in a major soccer tournament to give England a 1-0 win over Croatia on Sunday at the European Championship.
Raheem Sterling scored his first goal in a major soccer tournament to give England a 1-0 win over Croatia on Sunday at the European Championship. The goal ensured England overcame its opening-game stumbling block, finally making a winning start to the continental tournament in its 10th appearance. After only scoring once in his previous 13 appearances for Manchester City and England, Sterling found the breakthrough against Croatia in the 57th minute. It was the vision of Kalvin Phillips, one of five England starters making their tournament debut, that created the opening. The Leeds midfielder shook of challenges before releasing Sterling, who slipped a shot into the net via a touch off Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livaković. The sparkling moment for Sterling came two days after he was named in the queen’s birthday honors list for his campaigning against racial injustice. Also,17-year-old midfielder Jude Bellingham, who plays in Germany with Borussia Dortmund, became the youngest-ever player to appear at a European Championship when he came on in the 82nd minute to replace England captain Harry Kane.
