Tag: Serbia

LONDON: Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze helped England extend their flawless record on the road to the FIFA World Cup 2026, but Jude Bellingham was reduced to a cameo role in Thursday’s 2-0 win against Serbia at Wembley Stadium.

Saka struck in the first half before his Arsenal team-mate Eze netted in the closing stages to ensure England, who had already qualified for the World Cup, made it seven successive Group K victories without conceding a goal.

After scoring 13 times in their previous three matches, this was a more prosaic England display, with Thomas Tuchel’s decision to leave Bellingham out of his starting line-up capturing most of the attention.

Tuchel opted to select Aston Villa midfielder Morgan Rogers instead of Bellingham before sending on the Real Madrid star with 26 minutes left.

Bellingham had missed England’s previous four matches, with a shoulder injury sidelining him in September before Tuchel left him out in October.

Rogers excelled in the number 10 role while deputising for Bellingham during England’s wins over Wales and Latvia in October.

And Tuchel this week warned Bellingham that he would have to fight for his place in the starting line-up at the World Cup.

There have been reports that Bellingham has sometimes been a polarising figure among the England squad, and Tuchel was forced to apologise to the 22-year-old earlier this season after revealing his mother found the fiery star’s on-pitch behaviour “repulsive”.

After England travel to Albania for their last qualifier on Sunday, Tuchel has only two friendlies remaining in March before he has to name his World Cup squad.

The Germans’ handling of Bellingham will likely be the main topic from now until the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico next year.

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England’s 5-0 win in Serbia in September was the first sign that Tuchel was starting to stamp his mark on the team after a slow start to his reign.

England have been revitalised since that impressive victory, securing their World Cup berth by crushing Latvia in October.

Tuchel has now won eight of his nine matches, including seven World Cup qualifiers without conceding a single goal.

Tuchel had urged Saka to score more often for England after a meagre run in front of goal, and the Arsenal forward responded in the 28th minute.

Serbia keeper Predrag Rajkovic punched Declan Rice’s free-kick to Nico O’Reilly, and when his shot was blocked towards Saka, the 24-year-old guided a composed volley into the far corner from an acute angle.

Saka’s 14th goal in 47 England appearances gave his side a lift and O’Reilly’s deflected cross smacked the post before Harry Kane headed wide from close range.

Rogers nearly doubled the lead with a flicked header that flashed wide just before half-time.

Dusan Vlahovic should have punished England for their profligacy, but the striker back-heeled wide from close range after the interval.

As well as introducing Bellingham, Tuchel sent on Phil Foden — who had been absent from the previous three squads — to play as England’s central striker in place of Kane.

Bellingham and Foden combined with fellow substitute Eze to wrap up England’s win in the 90th minute.

Bellingham found Foden and the Manchester City playmaker teed up Eze for a superb finish into the top corner from the edge of the area.

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Serbia is set to build a museum dedicated to Novak Djokovic after the tennis great clinched a gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024.

“We had the first discussions about the construction of the Novak Djokovic museum, which is expected to become another attraction for the city,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Tuesday.

Djokovic has long enjoyed the status of a living legend in Serbia, where the Belgrade native and winner of 24 Grand Slam titles ran a tennis academy for years and frequently attends sporting events and meets with officials.

“Palma de Mallorca has a museum dedicated to Rafael Nadal. We will strive to showcase what Djokovic has done for our country in accordance with his merits and at the same time attract tourists,” Vucic added.

Vucic said he hoped the museum would be finished before Belgrade hosts the World Expo in 2027.

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The announcement comes just days after Djokovic won a gold medal at the Paris Games on Sunday after defeating Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2) in what was likely to be his final shot at Olympic glory.

The victory allowed him to join Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Steffi Graf and the watching Serena Williams as the only players to win all four Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic singles gold.

Djokovic also became the oldest singles champion since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988 and shattered Alcaraz’s bid to add gold to the French Open and Wimbledon titles he has already pocketed this summer.

Back in Serbia, people gathered in main squares across the country where they waved flags and sang patriotic songs to celebrate Djokovic’s victory.

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GELSENKIRCHEN: Jude Bellingham showed why he has been hailed as the key to England’s Euro 2024 challenge with a masterful display capped by the winning goal in their 1-0 victory against Serbia at the Arena AufSchalke on Sunday.

Bellingham arrived at the European Championship heralded as one of the world’s best young players after enjoying the season of his life at Real Madrid.

The 20-year-old lived up to the hype as his influential performance ensured England started their bid for a first major trophy in 58 years in winning fashion.

“It’s really special to score any time for England, especially a match-winning goal and one that can hopefully help us do well in the tournament,” he said.

From the moment he burst onto the scene at Birmingham at the age of 16, Bellingham has been on a remarkable rise that shows no signs of abating.

Bellingham helped Madrid beat his former club Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final earlier in June and was named La Liga’s Player of the Year after starring in the club’s latest domestic triumph.

Bellingham’s 19 league goals for Real this term showcased his transformation into a genuine penalty area threat, a valuable weapon along with his smooth passing and indefatigable work rate.

He took just 13 minutes to underline the point in their Group C opener against Serbia.

Bellingham started the move in midfield with a measured pass to Kyle Walker before sprinting into the penalty area to meet Bukayo Saka’s cross with a superb diving header that arrowed into the net from six yards.

After being mobbed by his teammates, Bellingham showed his comfort in the spotlight, soaking up the adulation of the England supporters with his arms outstretched before running to the centre circle to whip up the fans at the other end.

“It’s a great start for me personally. They give me a lot of appreciation and love. It’s good to give that back,” he said.

Scoring England’s first goal of a major tournament is nothing new to Bellingham, who headed their opener against Iran at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

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Jude Bellingham is the first European player to feature in three major tournaments before he turns 21 after previously playing at Euro 2020 and the last World Cup.

Having become the youngest Englishman to play at a major tournament four years ago, Bellingham is also the second man after Michael Owen to score at both the World Cup and European Championship before the age of 21.

Despite his tender age, Bellingham is already so influential for England that he was named part of boss Gareth Southgate’s four-man ‘leadership group’ ahead of the tournament.

Serbia were completely unable to contain Bellingham and veteran Nemanja Gudelj earned a booking after resorting to a crude foul on the midfielder.

“I took a few kicks but it’s something I have got used to. I feel like in every game I can make an impact, I can decide a game,” he said.

With 56 touches in the first half — compared to just two for England captain Harry Kane — the relentless Bellingham was the Three Lions’ driving force.

“I felt really good coming into the game. You could see I was enjoying it. I wanted to get on the ball and build some energy,” Bellingham said.

England’s Euro campaign was starting in what was once known as the ‘city of a thousand fires’.

And Bellingham lit up the drab surrounds of Gelsenkirchen’s industrial heartland in such vibrant fashion that it is hard to imagine England’s stay in Germany being a slow burn.

He remained a blur of intelligent movement in the second half to keep Serbia at bay as England held on despite a nervy finish.

“This team is still so new, gelling together with every game,” Bellingham said.

Fittingly, he departed to a standing ovation when he was substituted in the closing stages.

Jude Bellingham already has a mural in his hometown of Stourbridge — a tribute that might well be upgraded to a statue if England get their hands on the trophy in Berlin on July 14.

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World number one Novak Djokovic steered Serbia into the Davis Cup semi-finals as he beat Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4 to secure a 2-0 triumph over Great Britain in Malaga on Thursday.

The 36-year-old rebuked British fans at the end of the match as they tried to down his victory speech.

After Miomir Kecmanovic edged Jack Draper 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (8/6) in the opening clash 24-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic outclassed a stubborn Norrie to book a date with Jannik Sinner’s Italy on Saturday after they beat the Netherlands 2-1.

Djokovic, who beat Sinner to win the ATP Finals on Sunday in Turin before flying to the Costa del Sol, celebrated his landmark 400th week at number one with a straight sets win over Norrie, the captains agreeing not to play the redundant doubles.

British fans outnumbered Serbs at the sold-out Martin Carpena arena but the relentless Djokovic silenced them with his 21st consecutive Davis Cup singles win.

“Keep going, keep going,” said Djokovic, addressing British fans trying to drown him out with drums as he spoke after his win.

“Learn how to respect people, learn how to respect players, learn how to behave yourselves.”

Novak Djokovic said earlier this week that winning the competition is one of his “greatest goals” in a year where he has lifted seven titles, including three Grand Slams.

The veteran star was part of Serbia’s only Davis Cup triumph in 2010 and his country eliminated 10-time champions Britain, who faced an uphill struggle after Kecmanovic defeated Draper in two tie-breaks.

Britain, without the injured Andy Murray and Dan Evans, were hoping Draper could give them a cushion.

Serbia captain Viktor Troicki selected Kecmanovic over the higher-ranked Laslo Djere and the world number 55 raised his game in return.

Draper staved off two set points to hold for 5-5 but unravelled in the first tie-break, double-faulting twice and miscalculating a drop shot to hand the Serbian the set on a plate.

After composing himself the second set was even tighter than the first, with neither player able to find a break again.

The near-flawless Kecmanovic triumphed when Draper lashed a forehand wide and then pushed a return into the net.

“It was definitely very close, and just the atmosphere made it, I think, even more tense than it probably would be if it was like an ATP match or something,” said the Serb.

Djokovic set out with his mission clearly defined and earned two break points at 2-2 and took the second of them to nose ahead with a well-judged touch over the net which the scrambling Norrie just failed to reach.

The Briton was pulled to-and-fro by Djokovic but scrapped to survive four break points for an extremely tough hold from love 40 down, to trail 4-3. One superb overhead earned Norrie applause from Djokovic.

The 36-year-old offered little else after that to his opponent though and closed out the first set serving to love with a volley, before cupping his ear and blowing sarcastic kisses to a couple of British fans who had upset him.

Novak Djokovic broke to love in the first game of the second set as he began to hit his stride and show off his lethal forearm.

British No 1 Norrie, 18th in the world, showed resilience but never came close to finding a way back into the match.

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