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Ahead of EURO 2020, England midfielder Raheem Sterling was uncertain about his role in coach Gareth Southgate's squad.
At EURO 2020, Sterling was the only goal scorer to help England defeat Croatia with a minimal score in the opening match. At that time, not many people believed that this player from Man City Club was coach Gareth Southgate's number 1 choice for a position on the left wing of the England team.
The proof is that in the post-match press conference, a reporter did not hesitate to ask: "Sterling, do you feel you deserve to be selected for today's match?". At that time, Sterling was probably not very confident, so he only answered ambiguously: "Yes, I'm still trying to prove it."
Sterling is also timid because at the end of last season, he even lost his starting position at Man City. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the 2020/21 Champions League, this player born in 1994 was only used by coach Pep Guardiola for only 2 and 8 minutes when Man City faced Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, respectively.
It wasn't until the final that Sterling played 77 minutes, but he let down his Spanish coach when he couldn't help Man City avoid a narrow defeat at the hands of Chelsea.
At international level, Sterling missed all three matches for England last October, which marked the first time Southgate gave midfielders Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka a start. In November 2020, Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho were given the same honour as Grealish and Saka, while Sterling was again left out.
This fact has led many to believe that Sterling's position in the England team has become shaky, but coach Southgate does not think so. In a press conference before EURO 2020, the England captain emphasized: "The numbers that speak for Sterling confirm that we should put our faith in him. He is always eager to show his ability and has an incredible ability to recover."
Indeed, reality has proven that coach Southgate was not mistaken. After scoring the only goal to help England defeat Croatia, Sterling did the same against the Czech Republic in the final round of the group stage and contributed 1 goal to the Three Lions' 2-0 victory over Germany in the round of 16.
He then had another assist in England's 4-0 win over Ukraine in the quarter-finals. In England's 2-1 win over Denmark in the semi-finals, Sterling broke into the penalty area to win the home team a penalty in extra time, creating the conditions for Harry Kane to bring the final victory to the Three Lions.
Up to this stage of the tournament, in the England team, Sterling is only behind Kane in the list of top scorers at EURO 2020. If anyone still has the prejudice that Sterling plays too "closely", they will definitely have to think again if they know that, at EURO 2020, the former Liverpool midfielder had more shots on target than shots off target (5 compared to 4).
Not only that, he also has a very wide and flexible range of activities, sometimes playing on the left wing, sometimes moving to the right wing and when needed, appearing in the central area in a surprising way. In all 3 situations that scored goals at EURO 2020, Sterling was originally a winger but clearly appeared in the area reserved for strikers.
It should also be added that, at EURO 2020, Sterling is the player with the most successful dribbles with a total of 18 breakthroughs past opponents. His style is a very dangerous weapon for the English because it brings about a breakthrough. When the Three Lions compete with an opponent with a solid defense like Italy in the upcoming final (2:00 a.m. on July 12), players with the ability to stir up trouble like Sterling will become even more valuable.
At 26, Sterling is not the oldest player in the England squad, but he is the most experienced, with 67 appearances for the national team since his debut in 2012 (scoring 17 goals). If you count major tournaments such as the World Cup or EURO, Sterling is also unrivaled in terms of appearances with 18 matches.
The above staggering numbers alone show how important Sterling is to the England team. From here, the title "chief" that many people mock Sterling with should probably be "changed" to mean the leader who leads the Three Lions to victory.
According to Bongdaplus
