Gareth Southgate, the boss of England, said that he was about to make a choice that would have changed everything in their last-16 match against Slovakia.

When England went down 1-0 early on, it looked like they were going to be embarrassed when they lost at Euro 2024.

The Three Lions had a hard time breaking through Slovakia’s strong defence, and many fans thought it was time for them to leave because they hadn’t played well in any of their other group stage games.

But on Sunday in Gelsenkirchen, the game took a dramatic turn when Jude Bellingham scored with an amazing bicycle kick in the 95th minute. Harry Kane then scored in extra time to secure their spot in the quarterfinals.

After the game was over, a happy Gareth Southgate said he almost took Bellingham off because the Real Madrid midfielder wasn’t making an impact on the game.

“We were thinking should we take him off, but you know he is capable of those sorts of moments,” he said. “With 15 minutes left, you start to wonder if he is out on his feet.”

“We knew we had to do better with the ball during the game. We just couldn’t figure it out in the first half, but we did better in the second.”

“Because of that, they kept digging. The old-fashioned long throw scores the goal in the end. That kind of thing can happen when you keep wearing down a team.

Southgate then said that he almost took Harry Kane off before the extra-time goal.

“Hurry and Jude, you are looking and wondering, ‘Should we change those positions?'” “But you know they’re strong enough to do what they did,” he said.

“When people want changes, you need to keep the team in check and do things that you know will make things better.” I believe that almost every change we’ve made this event has made a difference.

In his words after England’s win over Slovakia in the round of 16, Bellingham hit back at those who had criticised them.

The midfielder didn’t hold back when he was asked why he celebrated his goal by raising his arms and saying “Who else?” while making a talking face with his hand.

“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” he stated. “It’s fun to play for England, but there’s also a lot of pressure. People say a lot of stupid things. Giving someone something and getting something back is nice.

Bellingham also said, “It’s hard for football players to be as honest as they want to be in press conferences and interviews because they’re always being judged.” As a way to relax, I like to play football, score goals, and celebrate.

“Perhaps it was a message to a few people. I was really excited and happy when it was over.

When asked what the “rubbish” words meant, Bellingham said, “You know what I mean by the rubbish.” It should be the proudest moment of your career to play for England, but it’s not always easy.

It’s really, really hard to breathe. Fans expect a lot from us, no matter what happened in the last few events or even years ago.

“A lot of people talk. Really, you should feel some pain about it. We play this game a lot.

“Every day we work hard to put on a show for the fans. Sometimes it doesn’t go so well, and it sounds like there’s a bit of a pile on; it’s not nice to hear.”

“But you can always use it and for moments like that, it’s nice to throw it back to some people.”