The writing is on the wall for England and their head coach, Gareth Southgate.
A tournament marked by disappointing performances would end in Gelsenkirchen, with a lackluster performance against the 45th best team in the world.
But then Jude Bellingham made a move. In three minutes and seventeen seconds, England – and Southgate – were saved.
Was this the moment everything changed?
England will certainly hope so. They say greatness comes from adversity, but England were not in difficult circumstances when Bellingham bolted deep into stoppage time.
They were desperate.
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Trailing 1-0 thanks to Ivan Schranz’s strike for Slovakia in the first half, England effectively ran out of time. At the end of the match, six minutes of injury time had been added and four and a half of those had already elapsed.
The ball had rebounded for a throw-in on England’s right flank. Desperate times called for desperate measures. England have spent much of this tournament working on the ball, without a clear playing identity. But all that talk was no longer relevant now. They just had to find something, somehow, from somewhere.
So they resort to a good, old-fashioned long throw. One football player throwing the ball into the penalty area with all his might, hoping for the best.
Kyle Walker was England’s honorary Rory Delap – a former Irish international who made his name with a shot throw for Stoke City in the 2000s – although he lacked Delap’s legendary distance.
His throw into the penalty area would just reach the six-yard box. England had seven players waiting in the penalty area, hoping they would land friendly.
It is defender Marc Guehi who makes the all-important first contact. He is tightly marked, but his header turns an undersized long throw into a good one. The flick-on keeps the attack alive.
Waiting around the six-metre area first is Ivan Toney, protecting another Slovakian marker, Norbert Gyomber. He leaves room for this.
Bellingham then drifts away from his marker, Denis Vavro, as if guided by the hands of fate.
He takes that open space and the ball lands slightly behind him. Does not matter. There is no hesitation at Bellingham, no doubt. Doubtless.
This is a player who takes every opportunity and has done so time and time again.
This season alone, Bellingham has been a difference-maker in injury time six times, either securing a win or equalizing late on for England (twice now) or Real Madrid (four times). This includes an injury-time winner against Barcelona in El Clasico, as well as an injury-time winner against Union Berlin in the Champions League – a goal that made him the youngest player to score a winning goal for Real Madrid in the 90th minute. that competition and the youngest Englishman from any side to do so.
Playing for England brings an onslaught of pressure that can rob even the best at the game of their senses, but not for Bellingham. His instinct was to try one of the game’s most difficult techniques at the most crucial crossroads of the English tournament.
“Overhead kicks are a rarity in football and for that reason it is the type of sequence or action that you rarely, if ever, train as a goalkeeper,” explains former goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski. “The moment of surprise alone is a big reason why it often feels like it’s harder for the goalkeeper to make a save. It is not uncommon in these moments for the goalkeeper to be startled by the striker’s courage and creativity to attempt such a beautiful shot, that you get caught up in the moment and never really put yourself in the right position or position to carry out the rescue. ”
Bellingham needed no invitation to join the pantheon of English greats – Hurst, Platt, Beckham, Owen – by scoring in iconic fashion at a major tournament.
He goes into the air, turns his body and throws his right leg at the ball.
He connects perfectly and sends the ball into the ground and past Martin Dubravka – who would otherwise have enjoyed a quiet evening.
This was England’s first shot on target in the entire match.
But England lived.
“In desperate times we need desperate measures and great players try outrageous things,” he said The Athletics columnist and former England international Alan Shearer. “Most of the time they fail, but for great players they sometimes work. To try to do that in such a tense moment and not worry about the outcome says how great he is. It could be the spark (that England need).”
Bellingham runs away and you see him shouting “who else” to the fans and to the cameras.
After being embraced by his grateful teammates, he performs his iconic celebration, arms outstretched, alongside captain Harry Kane.
“One of the best goals in the history of our country, I think,” Kane told FOX. “What a player. He works so hard for the team. There has been a lot of talk about him in recent days, but he has stepped up in the big moment. That’s what we need and he did that today.”
However, Kane would have more say in this game. The job wasn’t done yet.
The match would continue until the 97th minute, when the clocks were reset. We travel back in time to the 90th minute before the start of extra time. Thirty more minutes of action to see if the two teams can be separated before the looming threat of penalties – England’s kryptonite.
But England maintain the momentum after Bellingham’s moment of brilliance. And again it is a set game that gets them started.
Immediately substitute Ivan Toney gets a free kick on the right flank and Cole Palmer takes it. The clock has reached 90 minutes and 45 seconds.
But Dubravka is in command and punches the ball away.
It falls to Eberechi Eze on the edge of the penalty area, who tries to volley towards the goal, but gets it wrong, so wrong that it inadvertently keeps the attack alive. His shot bounces into the ground and towards Ivan Toney, who had slipped for a moment but had regained his balance. The Brentford striker had a hand in the first goal, but is now central.
Toney heads the ball over goal the first time and generates enough power to lift the ball over five players and set goalkeeper Dubravka back. It’s an inch-perfect header.
It is also a gift for Captain Kane. He heads the ball into the net as the clock reads 90 minutes and 51 seconds.
From despair at a gloomy performance to relief and elation. England kept their Euro 2024 hopes alive with a defining period of three minutes and seventeen seconds. An equalizer in the 95th minute and a winner in the 91st. It may look strange on the scoreboards, but no English fan will care.
Looming post-mortems were put on ice. Southgate’s side worked hard in their meeting with Slovakia and they will know they simply have to improve if they want to progress in this tournament. The talent within their squad demands better quality performances and relying on moments of inspiration will certainly not be enough to beat stronger opposition.
But despite the flaws of this encounter, it will still be a game that brings back fond memories. This was also the match in which Bellingham etched its name in the collective memory. He also gave his coach a stay of execution. But who knows, this might also be the match where England turns a corner.
“I was confident all the way through that we would achieve that goal,” Southgate said. “I didn’t think it would come this late, but I wasn’t ready to go home yet and the players clearly felt the same way.”
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(Top photo: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)