Gelsenkirchen (AFP)
Serbia’s coach, Dragan Stojokovic, believed that his country did not deserve to lose to England 0-1 in its first match in the European Cup in Germany, while his counterpart, Gareth Southgate, coach of the Three Lions, focused on the positives in the victory despite defending his box in the second half.
England made a strong start in Gelsenkirchen, opening the scoring through its young star, Jude Bellingham, with an early goal from a header in the 13th minute.
But Serbia responded strongly in the second half and forced goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to intervene late to prevent Dusan Vlahovic from scoring.
Stojkovic, who is considered one of the most talented midfielders in his country’s history and carried the colors of the former Yugoslavia national team 84 times, said, “I am proud of the reaction of my team players by forcing the English to defend.”
He added, “We did not deserve to lose, but this is what happened. We will continue working.”
Stojkovic made bold decisions after leaving captain Dusan Tadic on the bench, then replaced Al Hilal Saudi striker Aleksandar Mitrovic in the 61st minute when his country was looking to score an equalizer.
Stojkovic defended his decisions, “We succeeded in getting to the place we wanted and getting additional opportunities.”
In the next match, Serbia will meet Slovenia in Munich, before concluding its campaign in Group C by facing Denmark, which tied with Slovenia 1-1.
On the other hand, England coach Gareth Sawget saw that he wanted to benefit from the positives of “suffering”, after the advantage of the first half turned into an ordinary performance in the second that did not live up to the ambitions of winning the first continental title in the history of the “Three Lions” team.
Southgate, whose national team will meet Denmark in the next match in Frankfurt, said, “We suffered a little, which is a good thing for us. To defend our box in this way is a good thing.”
The coach, who held the position of defense and center during his career with Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, added: “I am happy with the way we played. We did not continue in the same way in the second half as I wanted, but getting a win is very important.”
Southgate (53 years old) has been supervising England since 2016 and led it to the final of the last edition in the summer of 2021, when it lost on penalties to Italy.
He acknowledged that there were areas for development: “We could have been more effective in the first half, but we showed team spirit and we still have a lot of work to do.”
Regarding the placement of full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold in the defensive midfield alongside Declan Rice, Southgate said, “I am very happy. Jude played an important role and Trent covered a lot of spaces. He had not played this role much before.”
He continued about the Liverpool player, “He showed great discipline, distinguished passes, and we are learning with him in this role, but he showed the quality that he can add. It is great to see him succeed in this role.”
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