How Jude Bellingham’s late England heroics almost didn’t happen
England manager Gareth Southgate has admitted he considered substituting Jude Bellingham before his stoppage-time equaliser against Slovakia on Sunday.
The Real Madrid midfielder had once again struggled to showcase his best form but remainded on the pitch – much to the frustration of many England fans – before rewarding Southgate’s faith with a dramatic overhead kick to send the game to extra time, where Harry Kane would go on to head home a winner.
After the game, Southgate explained why he chose to keep Bellingham on the field despite his difficult showing.
„It’s strange, but I never felt like tonight would be the end of our tournament,“ he told ITV. „Even with the long throw [from Kyle Walker], you felt there was hope. We can cause some chaos and something might drop. I didn’t think the finish would be quite what it was!
„With 15 minutes to go, you’re thinking Jude is out on he’s feet and should we take him off and put fresh legs on?
„But you know the sort of impact he can have on a game and those moments are why you stick with him at that time.
„The top players affect the big games in the moments when you need them. It’s that mentality that he has.“
Despite his delight towards the eventual result, Southgate did not shy away from the fact that England fell well short of expectations against Slovakia – a team ranked 40 places lower in the FIFA world rankings.
„I think it’s one of those classic England nights where we put everybody through the mill,“ he continued. „They’re a good team, it took us a long time to work out how to get through their pressure and you’ve got to be patient to do that. There’s anxiety in the stadium when you’re behind too.
„In the second half, we did that better and we were probing and kept being patient. The players that came in had an impact, but in the end, we were relying on a long throw to be the moment.
„But when you’ve pushed as much as you have and the opponents out on their feet, then those moments can happen and you’ve got to keep the belief.“