Comment on Serbia vs England (8:00 p.m. June 17). Strength of the two teams, expected lineup, head-to-head record and score prediction.

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PRE-MATCH COMMENTARY

England will begin their journey to seek their first major international championship since 1966, with a confrontation with Serbia. At Euro 2020, the Three Lions suffered a painful defeat on penalties to Italy at Wembley.

Coach Gareth Southgate has announced a bold squad for this tournament. Players such as Marcus Rashford, Jordan Henderson, Kalvin Phillips and Jack Grealish were all dropped to make room for a series of promising young players.

This seems to be the last chance for coach Southgate to win a title with England.

Comments Before The Match

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FORCE TWO TEAMS

Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic will lead the Serbian team’s attack. In addition, they also have Dusan Tadic with extensive combat experience.

Luke Shaw will not be able to recover from his calf injury before this match. However, the Manchester United defender is still expected to recover in time to participate in at least one group stage match.

Harry Maguire was removed from the tournament list due to injury. There were also concerns about Bukayo Saka’s injury but all England players took part in training on Thursday. John Stones has also recovered from the injury he sustained in the loss to Iceland.

RECENT PERFORMANCE

Serbian national team (all competitions): LDLWLW

England national team (all competitions): WDLDWL

PROBABLE TEAMS

ĐT Serbia (3-4-3): V. Milinkovic-Savic; Veljkovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Zivkovic, Maksimovic, Lukic, Kostic; S. Milinkovic-Savic, Tadic; Mitrovic

ĐT Anh (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Alexander-Arnold, Rice; Saka, Bellingham, Foden; Kane

SCORES PREDICTION

1/3 of Serbia’s goals in qualifying came from headers – the highest rate among the 24 teams participating in Euro 2024. Meanwhile, England does not have Harry Maguire – a midfielder who is good in the air. Therefore, Jordan Pickford may concede at Veltins-Arena.

Even though England played deadlocked and lost against Iceland, coach Southgate can field the strongest squad to get 3 points right in the opening match.

Prediction: Serbia 1-2 England