England-Croatia Tops / Flops: Sterling delivers England, Croatia overtaken

Tops

Sterling delivers England

Rather active throughout the meeting, Raheem Sterling did not succeed on the Wembley lawn this Sunday. The Manchester City striker sometimes made the wrong choices in the opposing final third and was also quite clumsy in his attempts. It was nevertheless he, after a superb appeal to the heart of the Croatian defense, who offered the victory to his team by cheating Dominik Livakovic. A saving goal that allows England to successfully enter the competition against the last World Cup finalist.

The XXL performance of Kalvin Phillips

England has rather mastered its subject this Sunday afternoon. And Kalvin Phillips managed to stand out from the crowd. The Leeds player dominated the midfield thanks to his volume of play, his impact in recovery and his ability to bring verticality. It was he who offered the goal to Raheem Sterling with a clever pass in space following a nice control. An XXL service!

Tyrone Mings Ensures

Established in the central hinge in the absence of Harry Maguire, Tyrone Mings achieved a very good performance for his first meeting in an international competition.

Powerful in the duels, good in the coverage and the anticipation, the defender of Aston Villa was also shown on the offensive plan by giving, on a nice return of the head, the opportunity to Raheem Sterling to register a doubled (74th).

Efficient!

Live: England hold their place against Croatia

Flops

The outmoded Croatia

It was not there. For its entry into the competition, Croatia was overtaken in all areas of the game against strong English, mobile and efficient in verticality. Luka Modric's teammates, struggling defensively, struggled to project themselves and worry Jordan Pickford. A service that confirms their bad luck. As a reminder, Zlatko Dalic's men had done no better than a draw against Armenia (1-1) and lost against Belgium (1-0) in their two preparation matches for Euro 2020.

The dominated Croatian midfielder The

whole team missed out. However, the midfielder will necessarily be singled out. On paper, the trio made up of Marcelo Brozovic, Mateo Kovacic and Luka Modric, seems enticing, combining volume of play, technique, creativity. This Sunday afternoon, we felt them a little lost. Of course, they are not the only ones responsible for the defeat of their selection, especially since they tried to reverse the trend, but we had the right to expect better, especially in the conservation of the ball and the game. offensive, from these great players. They will have to raise their level, and improve their complementarity, even with the rest of the team including the offensive elements, in their next two meetings.

Harry Kane lost

The England team had a good offensive armada on the Wembley lawn: Harry Kane was surrounded by Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Mason Mount. And while one might think that Tottenham's center-forward would be very prominent, he is the one who stood out the least among this attacking quartet. The top scorer and passer of the Premier League's last financial year did not skimp on efforts, but he did not weigh on the meeting as he usually does so well. The only real opportunity to eat? A center at the far post from the left where the Spurs striker, unbalanced, failed to frame ... before taking the post.