Gareth Southgate: Raheem Sterling has taken his game to another level
Gareth Southgate believes Raheem Sterling has taken his game to „another level“ with his late penalty winner against Iceland proving England are not overly reliant on Harry Kane.
Sterling coolly stroked home a last-gasp spot-kick he had won himself as England ended a 10-month hiatus with a 1-0 Nations League win in Reykjavik on Saturday.
The Manchester City forward played the whole game despite only recently returning for pre-season training with Southgate full of praise for the man who scored his 11th goal in his past 12 international appearances.
„His hunger to score, his hunger to win things, his hunger to drive himself, you really can’t underestimate it,“ Southgate said of Sterling.
„It has a massive impact on everybody around him and really has taken his game to another level.
„I can’t speak highly enough of him really, it would have been very easy to have another few days on the beach, not report in, get himself right for his club at the beginning of the season.
„His mentality the whole week has been exceptional. Desperate to be here, desperate to play, desperate to stay on, I thought he carried the fight when we went down to 10 men.
„He took the responsibility of the penalty, and I thought it was outstanding character throughout – his desire to win and succeed is exceptional.“
England are back in action on Tuesday night for another Nations League away clash, this time meeting Denmark in Copenhagen.
Given that the new domestic season is not yet under way, Southgate is likely to have to juggle his side.
Captain Harry Kane, in particular, looked off the pace for much of the win in Iceland – even if he did see an early goal incorrectly ruled out for offside.
Kane’s return to pre-season training with Tottenham was delayed after he was forced to quarantine as per the UK coronavirus regulations following a holiday in the Bahamas.
The 27-year-old has scored 32 goals in just 46 England appearances, including winning the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup.
But with the likes of Sterling also finding his scoring boots for his country, Southgate does not feel any future success would rely solely on Kane.
„Harry is a supreme goalscorer and is critical to the way we play,“ he said.
„Equally, we have some tremendous threats which will be clear as the next few months develop with Raheem in particular.
„Obviously we’ve spoken about Jadon (Sancho) already, Mason (Greenwood) is coming though, Marcus Rashford is of course at home.
„Phil (Foden) who I thought had a really good debut in really difficult circumstances, really difficult to play in those areas, and Mason Mount will score goals as well.
„The nice thing is that we won’t be leaning just on Harry and I think games like the win in Spain (a 3-2 Nations League victory in October 2018, with two Sterling goals and one from Rashford) show that goals can come from elsewhere.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
bet365 reserves the right to amend, cancel, reclaim or refuse any promotion at its own discretion.
