Yahoo News England begin Euro 2024 quest, Dutch edge Poland
England manager Gareth Southgate said his side must be "exceptional" to end a 58-year major tournament title drought as they kick off their Euro 2024 campaign against Serbia on Sunday, after the Netherlands grabbed a late 2-1 win over Poland.
England must cope with the pressure of being hyped as one of the favourites for the tournament as Southgate aims to finally steer a richly-talented generation to glory.
Tens of thousands of England supporters have arrived in Gelsenkirchen, in western Germany, eager to see a show from their team after a shock 1-0 defeat by Iceland in their final warm-up match.
Wout Weghorst struck in the 83rd minute, just two minutes after coming on as a substitute, to secure the Netherlands an opening Group D victory against Poland, who were without the injured Robert Lewandowski.
"I am very happy. This is indescribable, especially at a final tournament. So special. This is personally a dream scenario," said Weghorst.
"The absolute goal is to win that cup together."
Dutch fans packed the streets of Hamburg, creating an orange wall of noise hours before kick-off.
It was the Poland supporters whose voices echoed around the Volksparkstadion when Adam Buksa headed their team in front early on, but Cody Gakpo levelled an entertaining encounter before the half-hour mark with the aid of a deflection.
Gakpo, Memphis Depay and Denzel Dumfries all went close as the missed chances piled up for the Oranje, and Ronald Koeman's men looked to be running out of ideas until Weghorst swooped to slot home a deserved winner.
The Dutch, the 1988 winners, are hoping to end a poor recent Euros record, having not even reached the quarter-finals since 2008.
"He's an outstanding goalscorer," said Southgate.
