Sterling double stuns Spain
Sterling puts on a show for England
RAHEEM STERLING broke his goal-scoring drought in spectacular fashion with a first-half brace as England stunned Spain in Seville. Sterling opened the scoring after 16 minutes, his first goal for England since October 2015. Marcus Rashford added a second before Sterling bagged his brace. Paco Alcacer and Sergio Ramos added consolations after the break. ‘It means a lot to me. It is three years since I last scored and it means a lot,’ said Sterling.
STILL think Gareth Southgate’s on the road to nowhere with England? Last night, in front of a proper, hostile crowd, in a proper, competitive match, England’s youngest starting XI since 1959 recorded their best result since beating Germany away in 2001.
They won in Spain thanks to three first-half goals, two of them from Raheem Sterling, with a performance that was by turn brave, brilliant, fraught and downright manic.
Jordan Pickford went from being the architect of two goals to almost getting sent-off and Spain almost snatched a point in the second half as England clung on, replacing polish with old fashioned grit and downright bloody mindedness.
The UEFA Nations League has flaws aplenty, but the aggressive nature of the matches is not among them. Anyone who thinks England won because Spain were not bothered can’t have seen this.
They certainly looked bothered when Paco Alcacer headed in Marco Asensio’s corner in the 57th minute and the partisan Andalusian crowd thought Spain could get back in it.
They certainly seemed keen when furious players surrounded referee Szymon Marciniak of Poland, demanding a penalty after Pickford had clambered all over Rodrigo retrieving a horrid mistake. Initially, he got caught in possession. He compounded this by trying to escape with a Cruyff turn inside his own penalty area. Such things rarely end well and this was no exception.
Pickford lost the ball, Rodrigo shaped for an easy goal, Pickford climbed all over him to prevent it, succeeding in knocking the ball out for a corner. It looked like a penalty, it should have been a penalty, it wasn’t a penalty.
Yet, somehow, England held firm. Joe Gomez and Harry Maguire were not flawless, but steadfast. The work of the midfield was outstanding. The full backs were tireless.
And before this was played out backs to the wall, England showed sensational counter-attacking smarts to race to a 3-0 half-time lead. Here was Southgate’s revolution in action.
An extraordinarily young team, playing enterprising, intelligent football against one of the best teams in the world — away. He has even, at last, brought the best out of Sterling. Even taking into account England’s exploits at the World Cup, this was the high water mark of Southgate’s era.
You wait three years for a Sterling goal and then two come along at once.
What a goal the first was. A supreme counter-attack, England moving the ball from back to front at a pace and with a precision that startled their opponents.
It was Pickford who started the move for England’s first two goals. He spotted Harry Kane in a good position and pinged it, but with purpose. The Tottenham man then moved it on in a way that carved Spain wide open.
Kane hasn’t been scoring of late, we know that — six games without a goal coming to Seville. Yet his passing is the most underrated aspect of his game.
He gets compared to great England goalscorers of recent times like Alan Shearer, but Shearer couldn’t have operated as a number 10, nor would he have wanted to. Kane could and might, one day. He can pick a pass as expertly as any forward in the game. That is what he did after 16 minutes, finding Marcus Rashford who streaked through before knocking the final pass of the move to Sterling.
Finishing is his weak point, apparently. It didn’t look like it. He leathered the ball past David de Gea, with the confidence he displays each week for City. What a goal, what a start for England.
Only 13 minutes later the second came, with many similar features. Again it began with an outstanding pass across two thirds of the field from Pickford, again Kane was the target, again his support work was exemplary.
This time it was an exquisite reverse pass that put Rashford through one on one.
Maybe going up against his Manchester United team-mate De Gea made it feel like a training exercise. Rashford tucked the ball away, the locals sat, stunned.
Spain have only lost one match in this stadium and that was in 1991. But with six minutes to go before half time, Ross Barkley — another Southgate call vindicated — played a beautiful chip to the far post that caught Spain by surprise once more.
Kane was there and clipped it back for Sterling arriving in the six yard box with perfect timing. In 39 minutes, he had doubled his goal tally for England.
Sergio Ramos scored with the final touch of the game. Too late.
SPAIN: de Gea, Jonny, Nacho, Ramos, Alonso, Thiago, Busquets, Saul (Alcacer 56), Aspas (Ceballos 57), Rodrigo (Morata 73), Asensio.
Subs Not Used: Arrizabalaga, Albiol, Koke, Suso, Azpilicueta, Rodri, Gaya, Bartra, Pau Lopez.
Booked: Ramos, Jonny, Ceballos, Morata. Goals: Alcacer 58, Ramos 90.
ENGLAND: Pickford, Trippier (AlexanderArnold 85), Maguire, Gomez, Chilwell, Dier, Barkley (Walker 76), Winks (Chalobah 90), Sterling, Rashford, Kane.
Subs Not Used: Butland, Dunk, Mount, Maddison, Sancho, Bettinelli.
Booked: Dier, Winks, Maguire. Goals: Sterling 16, Rashford 29, Sterling 38. Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).