In the first game for Group D on Sunday June 13, 2021, at Wembley Stadium in England, refereed by Daniele Orsato, English forward Raheem Sterling would score the only goal of the game in the 57th minute to give England the win.
You could feel the nerves from the two teams as they knew they were each other’s main competition in the group. England would go out and control possession for the first half hour – including a shot across goal from Phil Foden that would bounce off the post – before Croatia really checked into the game. Playing defensively for the first half, Croatia would pass the ball amongst their defenders, trying to think of how they were going to attack. It wasn’t until the second half that Croatia started to threaten the English defense.
12 minutes into the second half, of which Croatia was controlling possession, Sterling would get a chance that no one saw coming due to a breakdown of the Croatian defense as three players would miss in their attempts at stopping midfielder Kalvin Phillips who dribbled right down the middle of the field before making an “inch perfect pass” to Sterling who would pass it through the keeper and into the middle of the goal.
Croatia would get their fair share of opportunities to tie the game, but their finishing was not up to par as only 2 out of their 8 shots would be on target. Croatia will need to improve their offense in the upcoming games as this time around, Luka Modric, their star player, spent most of his time defending when his natural role is to be the one who facilitates their attacking chances.
Photo: Raheem Sterling, Wikipedia, Creative Commons
