The writing was on the wall for England and their head coach, Gareth Southgate. A tournament marked by underwhelming performances was set to end in Gelsenkirchen, with a limp showing against the 45th best team in the world. But then, Jude Bellingham stirred.
In the space of three minutes and 17 seconds, England — and Southgate — were saved. Advertisement Was this the moment that changed everything? England will certainly hope so. They say greatness is forged from adversity, but England were not in difficult circumstances when Bellingham took flight deep into stoppage time.
They were desperate. Trailing 1-0 courtesy of Ivan Schranz ’s first-half strike for Slovakia , England were essentially out of time. Six minutes of stoppage time had been added to the end of the match and four and a half of those had already elapsed.
The ball had bounced out for a throw-in on the England right flank. Desperate times called for desperate measures. For much of this tournament, England have laboured on the ball, lacking a clear playing identity.
But all of that talk was irrelevant now. They just needed to find something, somehow, from somewhere. So they resort to a good, old-fashioned long throw.
One footballer chucking the ball with all his strength into the box with his hands, hoping for the best. Kyle Walker was England’s honorary Rory Delap — a former Ireland international who made his name with a bullet throw for Stoke City in the 2000s — although he lacked Delap’s legendary.