England hero Jude Bellingham singled out Arsenal star Bukayo Saka for the shift he put in at left-back as he made that important ‘sacrifice’ for the team yesterday to help the three Lions come from behind to pull off a dramatic victory in Euro 2024.
England are through to the quarter-finals but were seconds away from being knocked out by Slovakia, who led 1-0 for much of the game in this round of 16 tie.
In truth, Slovakia’s lead was deserved as England were far from at their best, but Bellingham steered in an incredible overhead kick in stoppage time to make it 1-1 before Harry Kane then added another in extra time to complete the comeback.
Bellingham is unsurprisingly getting all the headlines after that result, but he was also quick to credit his teammates after the game, speaking in the video below about Saka who made a sacrifice for the team by playing out of position…
Bellingham also praised the substitutes that came on and helped change the game, such as Ivan Toney, but left-back has also been a real problem position for England and it was a big call by Southgate to move Saka there when he’s normally so threatening on the right-hand side of attack for Arsenal and England.
Bellingham goal was memorable but overall performance needs to improve
England fans will hope that this dramatic result can galvanise the players a bit and see them perform better in the next game against Switzerland, as it’s been a pretty lacklustre tournament from the side so far.
As exciting as this comeback was, when the dust settles it will be important for these England players to realise that they are capable of playing much better than this, and that they surely cannot hope to win the Euros unless they improve or they will not get so lucky against stronger opposition like Spain, France and Germany.
