© CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA
Two wins, one draw, 7 points in the account and not a single goal conceded - this is how the performance of England, who took the first place in Group D, could be described in the first stage of the European Championship. By beating the Czech national team with a minimum result, England advances to the quarterfinals and will wait there for their opponents, who will be revealed after today's final matches in other stadiums. The head coach of the team, Gareth Southgate, commented: "To win the tournament, you need to beat all teams. We wanted to secure the first place in the group because it gives a lot of confidence entering the next stage, and the opportunity to play the quarterfinal match at Wembley Stadium. We don't know if this will give us an advantage, considering the opponents we will face in the next stage, but we wanted to play at home."
"Whatever we have to play against, we know they will be strong opponents. But we knew that for the last 18 months. From our perspective, the good thing is that we are improving every day. It will be very important in the upcoming matches."
Raheem Sterling, who scored the only goal of the match in the 12th minute and helped his team secure the victory, commented: "If you don't have to take the ball out of your own net, you win the match. And we have been doing that very well in this tournament. People were very disappointed with our game against Scotland a few days ago, but in that match and in this one against the Czech Republic, we didn't concede a goal, and that is the most important thing."
