Going out onto the pitch, scoring a goal and being decisive in the team’s victory. A dream performance for a substitute.

Nine minutes, four interventions, one shot and one goal. Can it be briefer and more relevant? Yes it can. That minor intervention “with a great impact” was enough for him to be awarded the MVP trophy of the match. Bah, silent metallic witness that one day you entered the history of England, even more so if the Euro final is won.

Oliver George Arthur Watkins, Ollie to his friends, has rarely appeared on all the British covers (and several of those that are not). footballer from the minor club Aston Villa compared to Londoners, Manchester and Liverpool.

Ollie Watkins beats defender De Vrij and goalkeeper Verbruggen with a cross-shot into the net. / Martin Meissner / AP

Southgate’s instinct

Unai Emery’s ‘villain’ scorer became the saviour of Gareth Southgate, who will most likely continue to lead the English national team after the unthinkable qualification for the second consecutive final of the pros. Watkins, 28, backed the manager’s decision to call him up in the controversial list he drew up instead of Jack Grealish, Marcos Rashford and Jadon Sancho, who are more famous and reputable.

Perhaps it was Southgate’s uncanny, sometimes inexplicable instinct that prompted him to draft Watkins into his first major international tournament at the age of 28 after successively ruling him out of the last three, although the manager did push for his international debut in March 2021. Watkins scored a goal on his debut against San Marino. No one applauded him. Wembley was empty. The pandemic, remember?

Ollie Watkins and center Marc Guéhi. / Frank Augstein / AP

“I swear on my life, on the lives of my children. I told Cole Palmer when we were coming: ‘You’re going to set up the play for me.’ I knew that as soon as he received the ball he was going to pass it to me. You had to be bold, touch it and finish it.”

Ollie Watkins

— England striker

From year to year

It took a year for Emery’s villain to reappear. Until March 2022. His first start. Against the Ivory Coast. He scored. 18 months passed until the next visit to the national team. October 2023. Friendly against Australia. Goal. The winning goal. A simulation of the feeling of becoming the hero of a match. Nothing to do with reality, outside the familiar shelter of London, in Dortmund, in front of a packed goal, not sufficiently protected, blindingly orange.

Watkins was left speechless. “When you score it’s exciting, but this was a different feeling. It was like it was in slow motion when I ran towards my team-mates and celebrated,” he said, feted, of course, by the entire squad at the final whistle. Harry Kane, the captain, was one of the first to do so. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

But, Arsenal supporter Since he was a child, an admirer, of course with this sentimental affiliation, of Thierry Henry, he had run after the goal to the bench, his natural habitat when he puts on the shirt of the three lions. Watkins’ tail is a lion, who had only played 20 minutes in the final stretch against Denmark before squeezing the nine against the Netherlands, and who He remembered another substitute, Cole Palmer.

The shot that brought glory to Watkins, in the 90th minute of the match. / La Presse / AP

The premonition

“I swear on my life, on my children’s lives. I said to Cole Palmer on the way in: ‘You’re going to set up the play for me’. I knew that as soon as he got the ball he was going to pass it to me. You had to be bold, touch it and finish. When I saw the ball go into the corner of the net, it was the best feeling I’ve ever had,” said Watkins of his fourth goal for England in 14 games.

A premonition, a presage of the kind that is repeated in every team, on every coach, and that this time came true. Perhaps the mysterious Southgate was right when he chose Watkins to travel to Germany. Perhaps there was no reason to doubt the coach when he took Kane and Foden off the field to bring on Watkins and Palmer.

“When I saw the ball go into the corner of the net it was the best feeling I’ve ever had”

Ollie Watkins

— England striker

Watkins, after the semi-final against the Netherlands in Dortmund. / Friso Gentsch / AP

The expected moment

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for weeks,” said Watkins, the very embodiment of happiness. Weeks? Or months? Years. “It took a lot of effort to get to where I am now,” He commented, recalling his slow and hard-fought rise from being a happy boy in the Exeter City youth system, who rose to the first team in the third English tier. After four years (2017), he moved to Brentford in the second tier, with whom he was promoted. He signed for Aston Villa in 2020, at the request of Dean Smith, his manager at Brentford.

He has spent four seasons at Birmingham. He finished the last one having equalled the club’s record for goals in a season and being voted the team’s best player. Nothing compares the honour bestowed by the Villains with the feeling of being the hero of the English empire.

2024-07-11 09:35:24
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