Sterling in the thick of it as England grind out a win over Nigeria
IT was the good, the bad and the ugly as Raheem Sterling took centre stage in England’s World Cup warm-up win over Nigeria.
Having hijacked the build-up to this friendly over his poor timekeeping and questionable choice of tattoo, he was a prominent figure on the pitch, too.
The good came from the constant danger he provided to the opposition defenders with his pace and direct running from the No.10 role.
The bad was his inability to capitalise on any of the chances he had, whereas the ugly was a yellow card for diving.
Sterling has faced a constant battle to change people’ s negative perception of him, and news of his late arrival for England duty and his gun tattoo have not have helped his cause.
The 23- year- old enjoyed an outstanding season at club level for Manchester City where he came on leaps and bounds under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola.
He scored a career-best 23 goals as City won the Premier League and Carabao Cup. But Sterling has not been as effective at international level.
Just two goals from 38 caps does not reflect his ability and the last one of those came in October 2015, so he is long overdue one in an England shirt.
There has been no such problem with Harry Kane. The Tottenham striker has become the go-to man under Gareth Southgate and scored again here.
Kane has bagged eight goals in his last seven internationals and with his starting place assured, he was a natural choice to be captain.
So he marked this big occasion for him under theWembley arch as he led the team out for the first time as permanent skipper in the right manner.
Jordan Henderson was absent after being given extra time off after playing in the Champions League final for Liverpool, but the rest of the team felt like a strong indicator of what Gareth Southgate will do for the opening World Cup game against Tunisia on June 18.
Jordan Pickford was preferred in goal and Kyle Walker took up the role on the right side of the three-man central defence.
Kieran Trippier was stationed outside him at right-wing back, while Ashley Young’s renaissance saw him begin on the opposite flank.
But regardless of the personnel, South gate would have been encouraged by how his team started on the front foot.
Trippier’s free-kick was saved by Francis Uzoho before the Spurs man picked out Gary Cahill from the resulting corner and he buried his header to give England an early lead.
They didn’t settle on their laurels and continued on the attack.
John Stones could have scored a second but couldn’t get enough contact after Young’s in- swinging cross caused panic.
Then Sterling had the chance to end his England drought after a lovely through ball from Dele Alli. He dinked his effort over the goalkeeper, but saw it drift beyond the far post with his left foot.
Sterling turned provider with some neat link-up play with Young but just as the Manchester United looked destined to score, Bryan Idowu made a vital block.
Chances kept coming as Uzoho saved from Jesse Lingard at the near post and then stopped Sterling’s low ball from giving Trippier a tap-in.
Sterling once again had an opportunity to find the net when he made space inside the box, but he drove his effort over the top.
After watching his team- mates spurn so many chances, the captain took things into his own hands.
Kane took aim from 20 yards and his low drive was too hot to handle for Uzoho as the scoreline was given a fairer look.
The Nigerians had been totally outplayed but Chelsea’s Victor Moses at least forced Pickford into action after nice skill to get past Walker.
The Super Eagles made four halftime changes and a renewed energy saw them halve the deficit straight away.
Former Watford striker Odion Ighalo hit the post before Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi slammed the rebound past Pickford.
At the other end, Sterling blotted his copybook when he was shown a yellow card for trying to win a penalty.
Television replays showed that Sterling was already heading for the floor before he received any contact from goalkeeper Uzoho.
With the tournament less than a fortnight away, it was very unfortunate timing as Sterling will receive a negative reputation amongst all the officials heading to Russia.
He and Kane were both replaced after 73 minutes as the game lost tempo with a rash of substitutions but England held on for a deserved win.
As for Sterling, his story looks set to follow England all the way through their World Cup adventure.