Sterling finds redemption at last with pinpoint execution
Striker silences the critics and transfers his dazzling club form to England
Wrapped inside a beautiful team goal was a moment of personal release. Raheem Sterling, part of one of the best club sides English football has seen, was wandering through a desert at international level until a drought-busting classic ended a three-year wait.
The ball flew from right to left and into Spain’s net in a style reminiscent of Michael Owen’s goal against Argentina at France 98. Except that Owen carried the ball himself into the launch position, while Sterling’s goal was the climax of a stunning counterattack that began with a pass from Jordan Pickford in England’s penalty box. This is how you end a 1,102-day, 27-game hiatus.
Spain 0 England 3, inside 37 minutes, was an outrageous state of play for a side – Gareth Southgate’s – who had scored only six times in eight fixtures.
On a soggy night, it was raining goals for Sterling and Marcus Rashford, who were both in search of redemption.
Rashford, who missed two good one-on-ones against Croatia on Friday night, scored England’s second after 29 minutes.
But Sterling’s first-half pair was a much bigger shedding of pressure. Time was running out for him to bridge the gap between his sometimes dazzling form for Manchester City and his faltering work in front of goal for England: an anomaly that has kept social media in bunfights for a couple of seasons now.
“It was a beautiful feeling to score. I put pressure on myself, it’s my position to score goals,” Sterling said as he left the pitch. “It means a lot to me. Three years is a long time not to score.”
At root, you either thought Sterling was working his socks off for the greater good or considered him a let-down in an England shirt.
The slump was undeniably deep. England’s senior player on the pitch in Seville, with 46 caps, Sterling had scored twice for his country in six years – the last of them at Wembley on Oct 9, 2015 in a 2-0 win against Estonia – 30 hours and seven minutes ago.
He had yet to score for Southgate but had found the target 46 times for Manchester City since the Estonia match.
Sterling was not hiding from doubts about his record. Over the weekend he said: “When I was a bit younger, I wasn’t too interested in
His role as lightning rod for the crueller kind of judgment had clearly weighed him down at times
scoring goals. I was all about looking nice, or trying to look nice, and showing people I’ve got a lot of ability.
“But now I’ve started to realise that no one remembers the nice stuff you do on the pitch, it’s about the effectiveness and what you do for the team. I need to get these goals going.”
Easy to say, hard to do against opponents who had never conceded three in the first half of a competitive game at home. Under Luis Enrique, the team who passed themselves to death at the World Cup in Russia are more decisive and direct. But even with 70 per cent-plus possession, the new Spain were blown away by England’s incisive attacking, and by the composure in front of goal of Rashford and Sterling, who both chose a fine night to stop being jittery.
“I don’t think he ever lacked confidence but sometimes you get chances and you’re thinking too much,” Southgate said. “Tonight he [Sterling] took chances and was prepared to hit things early, and his general game was good; he took up some dangerous positions and ran at their defence.”
After his first, Sterling wheeled away and touched his ear in the direction of England’s supporters. Whatever he meant, he was within his rights.
“I haven’t scored for a while for England so it was frustration, all the pressure, it all comes out in the celebration,” he said.
“There’s nothing better than scoring in an England shirt. We showed energy, effort and courage to get on the ball. As a forward you go through patches but I am
forgetting about looking nice, just getting in behind and causing havoc.”
His role as lightning rod has clearly weighed him down at times. There were days when he played as if he felt the world was against him – and some of it was, or seemed to be, for reasons that took on all sorts of socio-political dimensions.
At the same time it was reasonable to be underwhelmed by his goalscoring record for England and to argue that it needed to change. This debate was laid to rest at the home of Real Betis when Pickford moved the ball to Harry Kane, the England captain swept it to Rashford, and the final pass of the sequence fell sweetly to Sterling to clip into David de Gea’s top right-hand corner.
This sumptuous move restored the promise of England’s World Cup campaign. The two goals that followed evoked Germany 1 England 5 in 2001.
Unlike Germany 17 years ago, Spain fought back and scored twice, but by then Sterling was safely framed as a player bruised but never beaten: a striker redeemed, on Spain’s great stage.