(sabasports report) There is a strange phenomenon in England’s European Championship: all four goals so far have come from overseas players. Harry Kane in the Bundesliga has scored twice, as has Jude Bellingham in La Liga, while Premier League players have so far failed to collect a goal. Gareth Southgate said afterwards that he almost replaced Bellingham during the game. Had he done so, England might not have scored a shutout and might have been packing their bags for home.
Bellingham’s European Cup performance was not perfect, but he showed big heart at the crucial time. Bellingham has scored the winning or equalizing goal in stoppage time in six games this season for Real Madrid and England. Phil Foden was replaced by Ivan Toney before Bellingham tied in stoppage time. As it turned out, Kane and Bellingham were more comfortable when Southgate replaced Foden, and the team’s rhythm returned to normal. When they could not break through, they turned to Tony, the tall centre-forward who replaced Foden, and used the “long ball” in the English football DNA to solve the problem, and it was Tony who headed Kane’s goal in extra time.
It is widely believed Foden and Bellingham should not start at the same time. The case of 1 is very clear. Anthony Gordon or Eberechi Eze might have worked better on the left, while Foden would have been better suited to playing as a substitute for Belllham at the Euros, or replacing Bukayo Saka on the right in the second half and using his breakthrough to break the game. It is now up to Southgate to find the nerve to take Foden in the last eight against Switzerland. As the famous football commentator Zhan Jun said after the match today: “The next game against Switzerland, can not count on luck!”