Jude Bellingham has quoted former US President Theodore Roosevelt in response to his critics after scoring a crucial equaliser six minutes into added time in England’s Euro 2024 last-16 win over Slovakia.
Bellingham, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Saturday, saved England from defeat with a scissor goal seconds before the end of Sunday’s match in Gelsenkirchen.
The Real Madrid midfielder turned away and shouted “Who else?” as he celebrated his goal which sent the game into extra time before England captain Harry Kane headed in the winner to seal a 2-1 victory and secure a quarter-final place against Switzerland on Saturday.
After a string of poor performances in Germany, Bellingham was under pressure to live up to his reputation as one of the biggest young talents in football for Gareth Southgate’s side.
Following his contribution to the goal, Bellingham published an excerpt from “The Man in the Arena,” part of a speech made famous by Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, after his speech in Paris in 1910.
Bellingham posted on Instagram: “It’s not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out the strong man’s stumbles, nor the things the doer could have done better.
“The credit goes to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marked by dust and sweat and blood; who fights valiantly; who makes mistakes, who fails again and again, for there is nothing has no effort without error and without inadequacy.
“But who really strives to accomplish deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions; who spends himself for a good cause.
“Whoever, at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails by daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Bellingham said in his post-match interview that playing for England was “tough” and spoke of a “pile” of criticism.
“Playing for England is a great feeling but it’s also a lot of pressure,” he said.
“You hear people talking a lot of nonsense. It’s good when you can deliver and give them a little back.
“It’s very difficult to speak as openly as footballers want in press conferences and interviews because they are always judged. For me, football, being on the pitch, scoring goals and celebrating, is a way of liberating myself.
“People talk a lot. You still have to take it a little personally. We work very hard in this sport.
“We come every day, we work hard to deliver a performance for the fans, sometimes it doesn’t go well and sometimes it feels like it’s a bit of a pile-up, it’s not nice to hear.
“But you can still use it and in times like this it’s nice to throw it back at some people.”
England manager Southgate will be forced to make at least one change to his team against Switzerland after defender Marc Guéhi received a yellow card against Slovakia which triggered a one-match ban for the quarter-finals.
News Source : www.espn.com
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