High fives, headers and hands on hips — Square Ball 18/10/23
HEROICS
Written by: Flora Snelson
Charlie Cresswell didn’t get to be a hero when England won
the European Under-21 Championship this summer. As a squad player he kept a
clean sheet in his ninety minute run-out against Germany — but that was nothing
special. Everyone had a go at a clean sheet, because the Young Lions didn’t
concede once the whole competition.
Last week, Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ hamstring went askew,
meaning Cresswell’s bench place got upgraded to a starting spot for this week’s
qualifier for the next Euros, against Ukraine. Charlie had the chance to show
Daniel Farke that he should be above Liam Cooper, at least, in the pecking
order.
The headline isn’t a great advert, though. Undefeated in
competitive matches since June 2022, England Under-21s hammered Serbia 9-1 last
week, so it was quite the surprise when Lee Carsley’s lot were 2-0 down by
half-time on Tuesday night.
Big CC started by giving out a high five to goalie James
Trafford when he tipped a whipped-in corner over the crossbar after five
minutes. Cresswell then saved him the embarrassment of conceding from a bicycle
kick, his mere presence enough to leave Bohdan Viunnyk humiliated in the
attempt.
What Liam Cooper would have done in the build-up to
Ukraine’s first goal is left to our imagination, but Cresswell came off better
than Tino Livramento, who forgot to mark Nazar Voloshyn, letting the shot run
through his legs while standing in Trafford’s way so he couldn’t do anything
about it, either.
Trafford had clear sight of Ukraine’s second but it didn’t
help him judge a free kick by Oleh Ocheretko as it flew into the far corner.
Ocheretko cupped his ear with enough panache to leave Patrick Bamford seething
with envy. The camera zoomed on a deflated Trafford, the nights drawing in on
his summer of no concessions.
England fought back midway through the second half. Off
balance in the penalty area, Rory Delap got the ball to Noni Madueke, and
Madueke plumped for smacking it in off the inside of the far post. He took to
heroism well, insisting his teammates set up for the restart, but Cresswell
went the extra mile, running out of his half and back again to high five the
scorer.
Cresswell’s palm was primed to high five whoever came
forward next to save England’s unbeaten streak, but as time ran out, with no
other heroes around, it had to be him. In the 89th minute there were five
players in the six-yard box and they all let Harvey Elliott’s cross bounce
inside it. The ball was falling from some height, it was a job for a tall man,
and Charlie Cresswell was the last of the five. He’s so big, he’s like a tree,
he’s the tallest man ever.
On Tuesday night, one Leeds United fan called @MellyMaestro
wrote: ‘Charlie Cresswell is huge, I bet his mam saved a fortune on food when
he went on loan to Millwall.’
I was upset at the weekend because commentator Robyn Cowen
described Aston Villa’s goal against Arsenal as a ‘towering header’, but Maz
Pacheco is 5ft 5in and she didn’t leave the ground.
When Cresswell heads the ball, he towers, whether he likes
it or not. Have you seen him do a stooper, or a diver? I can’t remember one.
This one was a towering nodder. When Elliott’s cross bounced Charlie only had
to twitch that great big head of his and England had the equaliser. He loved it
so much he kept on nodding as he sprinted away like a chicken that approves.
This chicken got a cuddle from Madueke but he wasn’t
stopping there. Cresswell had scored the goal himself, but he still hit Jarrad
Branthwaite with a high five as the pair ran back to the halfway line. The
headline was sorted: ‘Late Cresswell nodder completes Young Lions comeback to
snatch Euro qualifying point’.
Not quite. Madueke could have stopped Ukraine’s
match-winning attack before it even started but he slipped on the halfway line
to give Valentin Rubchynskyi free run of the England half. Heroism’s not for
everyone, I guess. It was four on three, and the Chelsea boy was only really
jogging. ‘Go on, Cress’, his weary feet seemed to say, ‘I’m teeing you up for a
top drawer last-ditch. You take it. Be the hero again.’
So up stepped Cresswell. Illya Kvasnytsya got the ball and
was threatening in the box. Cresswell was jockeying with all he’d got but he
couldn’t block the shot. It was quite a good strike so I was surprised Charlie
didn’t give Kvasnytsya some skin to congratulate him too, but then I saw his
hands fully engaged with his hips, his head down, a right sorry pose.
England couldn’t do much with the twenty seconds left so
coach Lee Carsley had to focus on what they’d learnt. “I was pleased with the
performance but not the result,” he said. “This could potentially be a really
good lesson for us to help the group. We spoke about how to respond when you
have setbacks.”