For the better part of Gareth Southgate’s tenure, the England players didn’t appear weighed down by the burden of past failures, while playing in the Three Lions shirt. But in Gelsenkirchen, against Slovakia, a team ranked 40 places below them, England looked like a team playing in sheepskin jackets and with lead in their boots.
Nothing about this game screamed liberation, but incarceration by history, expectations and ridicule of the nation’s long trophy drought. If the free-spirited Georgia played from 0-100 kmph football, England played a 0 to 10 then 10 to 0 kmph football. For 90-plus minutes, with zero shots on target and trailing 0-1 for the majority of the game, a familiar England script looked set to be unfolding.
Right from the off, England looked lethargic and way off the pace for a knockout tie. Harry Kane kept blazing over, Phil Foden was ineffectual on the left, Bukayo Saka was shut out and Jude Bellingham looked like he was on his last legs. A case could have been made for all of them to be hauled off.
Bellingham, in particular, looked like he was cooked in the aftermath of his barnstorming debut season at Real Madrid, where he starred in the La Liga-Champions League double win. Bellingham, here, was marked out and out-muscled. His arms were thrown around in frustration at his teammates while his penchant for hero-ball passes was not coming off, too. Since the opening 45 minutes of the campaign against Serbia, where Bellingham seemed like he could do everything, the midfielder has struggled to replicate the required intensity.
With Slovakia sitting deep to defend the lead, England hopelessly spammed in crosses from both wings into both Kane and Bellingham in the hope of pulling off something. Anything. Every cross found a Slovakian head or body and every evidence pointed towards another case of Iceland 0-1 night for England.
Only a handful dare to try something like this in such circumstances, let alone pull it off with their first shot of the game! | Photo Credit: REUTERS
In the last desperate roll of his dice, Southgate took off Foden for Ivan Toney in the 94th minute. In came a laser throw in from Kyle Walker from the right and for once, an England head flicked it on into the six-yard area with Bellingham waiting with his back towards goal.
You see, these are the moments for which he was still there on the field. Since his move to Madrid last summer, he has scored countless equalisers and match-winners. And some of them have come as late as 90’+5, 90+2’, 90’+5’, 90’+1 and 90’+4 – four match-winners with the two coming in el Clasico.
So, here he was, with England staring at the exit in the 90’+5th minute, springing into the air and bicycle-kicking the ball into the net. Only a handful dare to try something like this in such circumstances, let alone pull it off with their first shot of the game!
England record-scorer Kane called it “one of the best goals” in England’s history. For Bellingham, there was no running about aimlessly in excitement or his hands reaching out to find his nearest teammate to embrace. He ran with purpose into the corner and stopped to mouth: “Who else?”. It is easy to forget he just turned 21 the day before.
With one stroke of genius, Bellingham breathed life into England’s lifeless campaign and Southgate’s job. The same manager later admitted that he considered taking off Bellingham before the equalising goal. In the last five days, several think pieces were calling for Bellingham to be dropped altogether, including one on these pages, which has been made to look silly.
After England’s win, Bellingham said he stepped up so that his teammates would not have to face the heat. “You’re 30 seconds from going home and having to listen to all the rubbish and feeling like you’ve let people down,” he shot back.
Tournament football is the ground for match-defining goals, assists, tackles and saves. In Bellingham, England has a bonafide superstar, who can conjure these moments every other game. But questions remain over his best position in the team and whether he can dovetail with Foden and Kane to bring out the best in all three of them. The balance and structure within this team look woefully off scale and Bellingham’s individual brilliance has only delayed England’s eventual exit from the tournament.
Part of Southgate’s problem has been Bellingham’s emergence as a ‘moment-maker’ in front of goal at Madrid, forcing him to play the midfielder further up the pitch in a free role. Even in bad matches, he tends to have his say, as he did with his assist in the Champions League final last month.
Previously, Southgate played Bellingham in a box-to-box role in a three-man midfield or a two-man pivot, including at the Qatar World Cup. But with no Jordan Henderson or Kalvin Phillips – Southgate’s favoured midfielders – and the manager not trusting his choices available in Germany, England’s familiar big-tournament issue could hurt this side once again.
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