STERLING SILVER
Raheem’s priceless for Southgate as City star proves he’s England’s main man with penalty winner
RAHEEM STERLING is always ready to step up for England.
Not just in scoring what proved to be the decisive injury- time penalty – but in chasing down a win in the last 20 minutes when victory appeared to be slipping away from his nation.
Sterling, 25, is firmly established as England’s most important player, the player who delivers in big games and now thrives in the shirt which used to be an intimidating factor.
The Manchester City forward has come so far since he was riddled with self doubt in Euro 2016.
He has stepped up to world-class level in the past three years and his late penalty was his 11th goal for England in 12 games.
Yet it would have been easy for Sterling – and for a few others – to have ducked England duty after finishing the season late for their respective clubs.
But this is a player who is now carrying his country forward in every sense.
England boss Gareth Southgate praised him for his “exceptional” contribution, especially when the game had been crying out for a match winner after Kyle Walker was sent off to leave England down to 10 men.
Southgate said: “I can’t speak highly enough of him really, it would have been very easy to have another few days on the beach, not report in, get himself right for his club at the beginning of the season.
“His mentality the whole week has been exceptional. Desperate to be here, desperate to play, desperate to stay on.
“I thought he carried the fight when we went down to 10 men, and as you said, he took the responsibility of the penalty.
“It was outstanding character throughout. He really is... his desire to win and succeed is exceptional.”
In any other season, Sterling would have been player of the year as he got 35 goals in all competitions for club and country, his 19 goals in the Premier League was his best return. But he still stood out even in a season when Manchester City were second best.
Southgate said: “With Kevin De Bruyne, he was the outstanding player in the Champions League game where they went out and he’s just been relentless.
“And I think, as I’ve just said there, his hunger to score, his hunger to win things, his hunger to drive himself – you really can’ t underestimate that, it has a massive impact on everybody around him and really has taken his game to another level.”
It is easy to forget this was England’s first game in 10 months, the players are still in pre-season and they looked rusty plus there were no fans or crowd to inspire any sort of atmosphere.
And after the bright start, England looked sluggish and lost their rhythm.
Joe Gomez did well in defence, James Ward-Prowse was busy in midfield and Phil Foden showed signs of promise while Harry Kane looked short of fitness. But the game changer was Walker’s second yellow card for a rash, crazy moment of madness for a mistimed sliding tackle which saw him get sent off.
England could have easily let the game drift. But Sterling came into his own, drove the game and coolly slotted home from what looked like
a harsh 89th-minute penalty for handball against Sverrir Ingason.
But it looked like England had blown it when Gomez conceded another clumsy penalty only for Birkir Bjarnason to slash the ball over the crossbar.
Thankfully for England, Sterling stepped up and showed that they do not need to just rely on Kane.
Incredibly, it was only the third time England have won a competitive game in the last three years when Kane has not scored.
Southgate added: “Harry is a supreme goalscorer and is critical to the way we play.
“Equally, we have some tremendous threats which will be clear as the next few months develop with Raheem in particular.
“Obviously we’ve spoken about Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood coming though, Marcus Rashford of course at home, Phil Foden who had a really good debut in rea l ly dif f i cult circumstances, really difficult to play in those areas and Mason Mount will score goals as well.
“The nice thing is that we won’t be leaning just on Harry and I think games like the win in Spain show that the goals can come from elsewhere. He’s still a critical part of what we do.”