Raheem Sterling Celebrates - Getty Images
Manchester City winger, Raheem Sterling scored his first goal at a major tournament to give England a 1-0 win over Croatia in their Euro 2020 Group D opener on Sunday.
England started brightly in front of around 20,000 fans in the sun-drenched Wembley Stadium, with forward Phil Foden rattling the far post and a long-range volley from midfielder Kalvin Phillips forcing Dominik Livakovic into a low save.
They made the breakthrough shortly after halftime, with Phillips showing excellent skill to evade a challenge and thread a pass-through to Sterling who ran in behind the defence and smashed the ball in via a touch off Livakovic.
Phillips is much more than a holding midfielder, although he can do the defensive work well and showed that by breaking up several Croatian moves.
He has the energy and awareness to contribute going forward and also can switch play well and deliver a crucial pass - as he showed for Sterling's goal.
Phillips burst forward, putting the Croatia defence on the back foot, and then found Sterling with a perfectly placed and weighted pass.
Yet that was by no means his only contribution -- with Declan Rice sitting deeper, he roamed the centre of the park, providing a link-up with the forwards.
"Kalvin Phillips is a player who is so understated. He has had a fantastic start to his international career. I thought he was immense throughout the game," said Southgate.
There were some concerns though. Captain Harry Kane looked tired and provided little threat and Phil Foden, who started so brightly, faded out of the game too quickly.
Croatia will look to bounce back in their next game against the Czech Republic on Friday with England taking on neighbours and arch-rivals Scotland.
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