Sterling, something of a surprise starter after a flat end to the domestic season but a favorite of manager Gareth Southgate, slid home after great work by Kalvin Phillips to end an individual drought that had run through England’s three previous major tournaments.

“It feels good. I grew up two minutes down the road, so I knew I had to score here, and it was a great feeling to do it,” said the Wembley-raised forward.

Southgate said he was unaware of England’s previous run of opening-game failures – despite having played in one of them in 1996 – but, as expected, was not getting carried away by a solid but unexceptional display.

“It’s for everybody else to get excited and throw their beer around and do whatever they want,” he said.

“It’s brilliant to give that joy to people. But for us, it’s on to the next one and preparing for a really tough game on Friday [against Scotland].

“But I was really pleased with the way we settled so quickly. Big occasion, sweltering hot day, every reason to look nervous at the start, but we didn’t. With and without the ball, we were composed. Although it was always going to be a game of few clear chances, we looked the bigger threat throughout.”

The game lacked the jeopardy of the teams’ 2018 World Cup semifinal, won by Croatia, and losing on Sunday was no disaster for them given the way the draw pans out, but it was a morale-boosting victory for England as they set off once again in search of their first title since 1966.

Roared on by a noisy 22,500 crowd –- a quarter of Wembley’s capacity -- they started full of bright intentions and put huge pressure on the visitors.

Phil Foden, his bleached hair channeling Paul Gascoigne from Euro 96, almost gave them a dream start when he cut in from the right and curled a low shot against a post.

Phillips, impressive all afternoon, then had a 25-yard shot blocked but, instead of riding the early momentum, England lost their way and, with the sun beating down, the pace and energy seeped out of the game either side of the break.

England eventually shook themselves out of the torpor and struck when Phillips drove through the retreating defense, rode two tackles and played the ball expertly into the path of the darting Sterling who, under pressure, just got enough on the ball to steer it home.

Sterling had looked lively all day and celebrated his first major tournament goal with gusto, though he should have added a second 13 minutes later but blazed wildly over the bar.

 

Coming from behind

Ukraine’s players were kicking themselves after their stirring comeback against the Netherlands counted for nothing following a 3-2 defeat but coach Andriy Shevchenko was proud of his side and optimistic for the rest of their Euro 2020 campaign.

After the Dutch had powered into a commanding lead with second-half strikes from Georginio Wijnaldum and Wout Weghorst, Ukraine showed no signs of giving up and pulled level with two goals in four minutes.

Andriy Yarmolenko’s stunning curler and Roman Yaremchuk’s header from a free kick looked to have earned Ukraine a point, but Denzel Dumfries bundled in a late third goal for the Dutch.

“It’s so frustrating to lose a game in the last minutes,” said Yarmolenko. “It’s hard to take it now, with so many emotions. It was 2-0, then 2-2 and yet we lost.”

Captain Oleksandr Zinchenko added: “We are very disappointed because we showed character and leveled the score in such a hard game.”

Elsewhere, late goals from substitutes Michael Gregoritsch and Marko Arnautovic gave Austria a convincing 3-1 victory over European Championship debutant North Macedonia in their opening Group C clash on Sunday as they earned its first tournament victory in 31 years.

Gregoritsch prodded home David Alaba’s cross in the 78th minute before Arnautovic struck in the 89th, as Austria earned a first win at the Euros at their seventh attempt and their first victory at a major tournament since the 1990 World Cup.

“We deserved to win today,” Austria coach Franco Foda said. “The players made history today. You could feel form the first minute that they wanted to win it.”

“The substitutions had an effect and brought new impulse. They were important and the team did everything to win it.”

“I am very satisfied. We started well and were aggressive. Then they scored through a momentary lapse of concentration from us,” Foda said.