As the tide of euphoria peaked, then curled in on itself, then relaxed into ripples after England left the World Cup at the semi-final stage and the squad returned home from Russia, Gareth Southgate noticed one of his players was not in the same buoyant mood as the rest.
England had reached the last four of a World Cup for the first time in 28 years, propelled on by video clips of the feverish celebrations 3,600 miles back home, they returned not winners but heroes nonetheless. Life could barely have been better.
Yet Raheem Sterling did not seem to share in the exuberance.
Despite playing every game bar one, he had not scored during the tournament. And despite making countless key contributions and unselfish runs to free space for Golden Boot winner Harry Kane, the public did not take to them.
After the World Cup quarter-final against Sweden, in which Sterling starred in an uncharacteristically comfortable England win, in the BBC’s online poll he was rated by the public as the team’s worst player.
He was the only one to be rated lower than six – considered not as good as substitutes Fabian Delph, Eric Dier and Marcus Rashford, who collectively played for 20 minutes. Even Rashford, who had come on for Sterling in stoppage time and touched the ball a couple of times, rated higher.
It was a peculiar phenomenon.
After four Euro 2020 games, he has scored two match-winners, the opening goal to send England on their way to victory against Germany, and is two goals behind current tournament top-scorer Cristiano Ronaldo. You’d expect him to be considered one of England’s best players. If not the best.
So far, the public – again on the BBC website – have given him an average rating of 6.08, out of 10. Tough crowd.
How low would his numbers be if he hadn’t scored, like in Russia? As a rough idea, in the only game in which he hasn’t scored – against Scotland – he was given a 3.55. Huh.
What if Harry Kane had scored the same crucial goals to fire England to a Euro 2020 quarter-final? He would surely be a national treasure by now, awaiting his knighthood when the tournament concludes.
It would a simpler story, but Sterling’s isn’t. It should be a fairy tale: the boy from Brent, scoring match-winning goals at Wembley for his country during an almost home European Championship.
What is it about Raheem Sterling? Why isn’t he loved and cherished? How has a boy who just wanted to play football become a lightning rod in the culture war?
On the eve of the Euros he was awarded an MBE by the Queen for campaigning against racial injustice – and perhaps, sadly, that’s part of the problem for a nation who have been unable to fully get behind their players taking a knee against racism and inequality before matches.
Southgate repeatedly defended Sterling’s contribution during the World Cup, has repeatedly defended Sterling since then and has gone into bat for his star winger again.
“He is a fighter,” the England manager said. “He has got an incredible resilience and hunger. He has developed over the last couple of years this real hunger to score – where the ball has flashed across the box earlier in the tournament, he has been in between the posts.
“He is finding himself in these areas and yes, his drive is fantastic, we know the journey he has been on with England and I am so happy for him to be able to deliver the performances he has. To deliver them at Wembley will have been really special for him and the goals return is incredible.
“Absolutely incredible, really. But – yes – please keep asking the questions because if we cannot motivate him everyone else will certainly be able to.”
Sterling took a long time to settle into an England shirt – 15 goals in his previous 20 games is phenomenal, but in his first 45 he scored only two. Being vilified at every turn during that period and made a scapegoat for his country’s failures on the world stage is likely to do that to a person.
But even when England did it right, something felt wrong for Sterling. “He was probably only one of the players to come back from the World Cup with a different feeling and I talked to him at length about that,” Southgate said.
Southgate believes the “lift-off moment for him” for him was when he ended a three-year goalless spell for the national team against Spain in Seville, in 2018.
“You could almost see it. He almost jumped into the second tier of the stadium if you look at the celebration that night of his goal. I really feel this was a significant moment for him and of course, he had been scoring for his club but had not been able to translate that across. Now I think he feels happy in our environment, feels he can be himself, knows the respect we have for him.”
If only that same reverence was shared across the nation. It’s the least he deserves.
More from i on Euro 2020
- England aren’t ‘rubbish’ and Southgate isn’t a ‘fraud’ – we just need a bit of patience
- What the Premier League could learn from Euro 2020’s controversy-free referees
- The football nomad who became a hero for his role in saving Eriksen’s life
- How Ronaldo’s Coca-Cola stunt could change the face of football sponsorship
- How to watch every Euro 2020 match on TV and online in the UK
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3h9GvUk
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