Jesvin's Column: Bundesliga at the Euros, Day 3
Day 3 of EURO 2020 is now in the books, with all 3 games having Bundesliga representation. Groups C and D kicked off, here is your day 3 lowdown as well as the previous days' Bundesliga involvements.
Bellingham makes history
History was made at Wembley Stadium when in the 82nd minute, Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham came onto the pitch for England captain Harry Kane. At just 17 years and 349 days old, Bellingham became the youngest player to ever feature in the European Championships since Eintracht Frankfurt defender Jetro Willems played for the Netherlands at 18 years and 71 days old. Bellingham made quite the impression in the 12 minutes of action he was given, getting himself stuck into tackles and putting himself about on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Wembley Stadium. Dortmund's other English sensation Jadon Sancho was not part of the matchday squad at all, despite not having a pre-existing injury which puzzled many Dortmund fans hoping to see their man in action. On the other side of the coin, it was not a great day for Croatia. Hoffenheim striker Andrej Kramaric lead the line from the start but was firing blanks for the World Cup runners-up. Wolfsburg's Josip Brekalo came off the bench to replace Kramaric but made no real impact on the game. England were in control for large parts of the game and made their controlling count when Raheem Sterling scored the only goal of the game as England won 1-0.
☑️ Youngest man to appear at a @UEFA EURO
— England (@England) June 13, 2021
☑️ Youngest man to play for England at a major tournament
A special day for 17-year-old @BellinghamJude 👏 pic.twitter.com/68Tagq9fVv
England Starting XI: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Mings, Trippier; Rice, Phillips; Mount, Foden, Sterling; Kane
Croatia Starting XI: Livakovic; Vrsaljko, Caleta-Car, Vida, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Brozovic, Modric; Rebic, Kramaric, Perisic
Historic day for North Macedonia despite Austria defeat
The result of this game was immaterial for North Macedonia fans after the 28th minute when more history was made, as 37-year-old captain Goran Pandev scored North Macedonia's first goal in a major international tournament vs Austria. Austria started the game with a team which had 2 players that didn't play their club football in the Bundesliga, and it was the Borussia Mönchengladbach right-back Stefan Lainer that gave the Austrians the lead after a really good ball from RB Leipzig's Marcel Sabitzer found the right boot of the full-back who ventured forward and volleyed home from a tight angle. The lead was short-lived, as a mistake from Austrian keeper, Daniel Bachmann allowed Pandev to score the historical goal. The North Macedonians proved hard to break down until substitute Michael Gregoritsch of Augsburg was on the end of a beautiful cross from David Alaba to give Austria the lead again. Austria piled on the misery for the debutants as another substitute Marko Arnautovic fired low into the net to make it 3-1. The sole Bundesliga representative for North Macedonia Darko Churlinov from Stuttgart was an unused sub in the 90 minutes.
Bravo Jungs! Bravo Seve! Weiter so! #AUTMKD #AUT #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/N4zkSughnR
— ÖFB - oefb.at (@oefb1904) June 13, 2021
Austria Starting XI: Bachmann; Lainer, Dragovic, Hinteregger, Ulmer; Baumgartner, Laimer, Schlager, Alaba, Sabitzer; Kalajdzic
North Macedonia Starting XI: Dimitrievski; Nikolov, Ristovski, Velkovski, Musliu, Alioski; Bardhi, Ademi, Elmas; Pandev, Trajkovski
Dutch delight in Amsterdam
VfL Wolfsburg striker Wout Weghorst bagged his 2nd goal in Dutch colors as the Netherlands rounded off day 3 of EURO 2020 with a victory in Amsterdam over Ukraine. The 6-foot 6-inch striker netted the second of the Dutch goals in what was a fantastic game at the Johan Cruyff ArenA. The men in orange took the lead after 52 minutes when Ukraine goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan failed to cleanly take the ball from a low cross, and the ball fell to Dutch captain Georginio Wijnaldum who fired home to give the hosts the lead. Weghorst's moment came 6 minutes after, when Denzel Dumfries went on a run into the Ukraine penalty area and the ball ricocheted off a Ukraine defender into the path of Weghorst who fired into the near post and doubled the lead. But the final 15 minutes were an emotional rollercoaster for Dutch supporters, from joy to anxiousness to fear to ecstasy, Dutch fans experienced it all as Ukraine came back from 2-0 down to equalize the game at 2-2 thanks to a wonderful goal from opposition captain Andriy Yarmolenko and a textbook header from Genk forward Roman Yaremchuk. But in the end it was the hosts that took all 3 points with PSV defender Denzel Dumfries heading home the winner in the 85th minute to send the orange army into a frenzy.
52' Wijnaldum ⚽️
— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) June 13, 2021
59' Weghorst ⚽️
Great second half so far 🦁🔥#EURO2020 #NEDUKR pic.twitter.com/7J6MCss6FZ
Netherlands Starting XI: Stekelenburg; Dumfries, Timber, De Vrij, Blind, van Aanholt; De Roon, Wijnaldum, De Jong; Weghorst, Depay
Ukraine Starting XI: Bushchan; Karavaev, Zabarnyi, Matvienko, Mykolenko; Malinovskyi, Sydorchuk, Zinchenko; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Zubkov
First 2 days
The Bundesliga was well represented on Day 2 of the Euros, however, the incident at the Parken Stadion in Copenhagen overshadowed the day's play. 5 of Switzerland's starting XI were Bundesliga players and it was Borussia Mönchengladbach's forward Breel Embolo who scored for Switzerland in their 1-1 draw with Wales in group A. Denmark and Finland had a good representation of the Bundesliga and it was a Bundesliga forward, Joel Pohjanpalo, who scored Finland's first-ever goal at a major tournament. But the incident involving Christian Eriksen was, unfortunately, the major moment of the game. Everyone at the Bulinews team wishes all the best for Christian in his recovery and we hope to see him back on the pitch soon. In day 2's final game Belgium put a masterclass in Russia, with Borussia Dortmund's Thomas Meunier putting in a great performance off the bench with a goal and an assist in Belgium's 3-0 win over Russia.