It was clear that England and their head coach, Gareth Southgate, were not going to make it.
A tournament with disappointing performances ended in Gelsenkirchen with a weak performance against the 45th best team in the world.
But then Jude Bellingham stirred. In the space of three minutes and 17 seconds, England — and Southgate — were saved.
Was this the moment that changed everything?
England certainly hope so. They say greatness is forged from adversity, but England were not in dire straits when Bellingham went on the run deep into injury time.
They were desperate.
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England were 1-0 down thanks to Ivan Schranz’s first-half goal for Slovakia, and were effectively running out of time. There were six minutes of added time on the end of the game, four and a half of which had already passed.
The ball had bounced out on the England right flank for a throw-in. Desperate times called for desperate measures. England have spent most of this tournament working hard on the ball, without a clear playing identity. But all that talk was irrelevant now. They simply had to find something, somehow, from somewhere.
So they go back to a good old-fashioned long throw. A footballer throwing the ball with all his might into the penalty area with his hands, hoping for the best.
Kyle Walker was England’s honorary Rory Delap, a former Ireland international who made his name throwing the shot for Stoke City in the 2000s. However, he lacked Delap’s legendary distance.
His throw into the penalty area would only just reach the six-yard line. England had seven players waiting in the box, hoping the ball would land well.
It is defender Marc Guehi who makes the all-important first contact. He is tightly marked, but his header turns a substandard long throw into a good one. The flick-on keeps the attack alive.
Ivan Toney is the first to wait around the sixteen-yard box, shielding another Slovakian marker, Norbert Gyomber. In doing so, he leaves space.
Bellingham then drifts away from his opponent, Denis Vavro, as if guided by fate.
He takes that open space and the ball comes a little behind him. Doesn’t matter. Bellingham doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t hesitate. No hesitation.
This is a player who holds his own and has done so many times before.
This season alone, Bellingham has made the difference in injury time six times, either securing a win or equalising late on for either England (twice now) or Real Madrid (four times). This includes a stoppage-time winner against Barcelona in El Clasico, as well as a stoppage-time winner against Union Berlin in the Champions League – a goal that made him the youngest player to score a 90th-minute winner for Real Madrid in that competition, and the youngest Englishman of any team to do so.
Playing for England brings with it a barrage of pressure that can sap even the best players of their senses, but not Bellingham. His instinct was to attempt one of the most difficult techniques in the game at the most crucial moment of the English tournament.
“The bicycle kick is a rarity in football and as such it’s 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 a harder save for the goalkeeper to make. It’s not uncommon for the goalkeeper to be taken aback in these moments by the courage and creativity of the striker to attempt such a great shot that you get caught up in the moment and never really put yourself in the right position to make the save.”
Bellingham needed no invitation to join the pantheon of England greats – Hurst, Platt, Beckham, Owen – by scoring in iconic fashion at a major tournament.
He lifts the ball, turns his body and throws his right leg at the ball.
He makes a perfect connection and sends the ball down the ground, past Martin Dubravka, who had otherwise had a quiet evening.
This was England’s first shot on target in the entire match.
But England still 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. That he tries to do that in such a tense moment and doesn’t worry about the outcome tells you how great he is. It could be the spark that (England needs).”
Bellingham runs away and can be seen shouting “who else?” to the fans and cameras.
After being embraced by his grateful teammates, he celebrates his iconic victory with his 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’s been a lot of talk about him the last couple days, but he stepped up at the big time. That’s what we need and he did that today.”
Kane would have more to say in this match, however. The job was not done yet.
The match would continue until the 97th minute when the clocks would be reset. We travel back in time to the 90th minute for the start of extra time. Thirty minutes of action to see if the two teams could be separated before the looming penalty shootout — England’s kryptonite.
But England maintain their momentum after Bellingham’s moment of brilliance, and once again it’s a set piece that sees them on their way.
Substitute Ivan Toney immediately gets a free kick on the right flank and Cole Palmer takes it. The clock reads 90 minutes and 45 seconds.
But Dubravka dominates and shoots the ball away.
It is Eberechi Eze on the edge of the penalty area who tries to fire a volley at goal but misses, so much so that he inadvertently keeps the attack alive. His shot bounces off the ground and into the path of Ivan Toney, who had slipped but regained his balance. The Brentford striker had a hand in the first goal, but now he will be the focal point.
Toney heads the ball over the goal for the first time, generating enough power to lift the ball over five players and send goalkeeper Dubravka back-footing it. It’s an inch-perfect header.
It’s also a gift for captain Kane, who heads the ball into the net while the clock reads 90 minutes and 51 seconds.
From despair over a poor performance to relief and joy, England kept their Euro 2024 hopes alive with a decisive three minutes and 17 seconds. An equaliser in the 95th minute and a winner in the 91st. It may look strange on the scoreboard, but no England fan will care.
Any looming post-mortems have been put on hold. Southgate’s team struggled during their encounter with Slovakia and they will know that they simply have to perform better if they are to progress in this tournament. The talent within their squad demands better performances and relying on moments of inspiration will certainly not be enough to defeat stronger opponents.
But regardless of the mistakes of this encounter, it will still be a match that will evoke fond memories. This was also the match in which Bellingham etched his name into the collective memory. In doing so, he gave his coach a stay of execution. But who knows, this is also the match in which England will reach a turning point.
“I was confident all the time that we would get that goal,” Southgate said. “I didn’t think it would come this late but I wasn’t ready to go home and the players obviously felt that.”
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(Top photo: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
