As expected, coach Gareth Southgate continued to create conditions for some young talents to start from the start when England visited Montenegro in Group A of the Euro 2020 qualifiers. This time, Declan Rice and Callum Hudson-Odoi were given a chance while Jadon Sancho was out due to injury. In addition, some positions were also rotated by Coach Southgate compared to the 5-0 victory over the Czech Republic.
The significant change in the squad has caused England to have a rather difficult start. With home advantage, Montenegro entered the match quite impressively. In the 17th minute, Vesovic made a solo pass through two English players before crossing his right foot into a beautiful far corner to open the score. In this phase, both Hudson-Odoi and Rice made mistakes when they failed to approach the home team's No. 7 midfielder.
Although they were behind, the away team did not play too tense. They calmly waited for the opportunity and it came in the 30th minute. From a free kick on the right wing, Barkley accurately assisted Michael Keane to jump high to head the ball to equalize for the Three Lions.
9 minutes later, it was Chelsea's midfielder's turn to speak up. From a very difficult shot by Hudson- odoi, Barkley quickly taped the ball into the net, leaving goalkeeper Montenegro unable to react. 2-1 for England.
In the second half, coach Southgate's team played with concentration and did not give their opponent a chance to approach Pickford. In the 59th minute, Sterling broke down close to the cross and returned, making defender Montenegro wait until he was present, Barkley was right at the time to score the 3rd goal for England.
It was not until the 71st minute that England's "performance" was completely returned to the two main stars Sterling and Kane. From a light counter-attack, Sterling crossed for Kane to easily score, raising the score to 4-1 for the white team. In the 81st minute, Sterling ended a great night for England and himself with a goal to seal a 5-1 victory.
With the second consecutive 5-star victory, England dominated the top of Group A with 6 absolute points and a goal difference of +9. Bulgaria temporarily ranked second in the group with 2 draws.
