And we all thought England just had generational talent.
Kobbie Mainoo was effectively brought to Germany as a work experience boy, but has emerged as the key boy behind this country’s attempt to rewrite history.
After just five starts, England’s new wonderkid will now have a teenage crisis against Spaniard Lamine Yamal in the Euro 2024 final.
Last night, he not only became England’s youngest ever player to appear in a major tournament semi-final, at 19 years and 82 days.
Here, he grabbed this semi-final by the scruff of the neck, produced a performance that was a joy to watch, particularly in the first half, and now England are in their first final on foreign soil.
If Jude Bellingham thought he would certainly be England’s leading poster boy for the next decade, he has someone else appearing in his rear-view mirror in just a few weeks.
Winning an FA Cup winner’s medal at 19 was impressive. Winning Euro 2024 a few months later would be extraordinary.
As we saw at Manchester United, Mainoo fit perfectly into the team and provided a perfect blend of style and substance.
Give it a few years and you can only imagine how good this little guy will be.
For much of this tournament the focus has been on the disappointing form of Harry Kane, Bellingham and Phil Foden.
So Mainoo, to a certain extent, almost fell off the radar. But against the Dutch, in tight, congested spaces, he is in a class of his own.
When pressured, he remained calm, got out of difficult situations and moved on.
Despite the stakes, Mainoo again looked remarkably composed and was England’s best player in the first half. He won possession, made tackles and advanced like an old master.
He almost provided an assist at 1-1 with a brilliant move. He received the ball from Foden, turned and advanced before passing the ball back to his teammate, but his shot was deflected by Denzel Dumfries.
Mainoo made an excellent block to extinguish some serious danger from a lightning-quick Dutch counter-attack.
In the second half, he had less space in midfield, but still had plenty of energy and maintained positional discipline – and then let substitutes Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins do the business.
It is still surprising that Mainoo will now head to Berlin on Sunday when you consider that Mainoo only made his United debut against Charlton in the Carabao Cup in January 2023. His first Premier League match was just eight months ago.
However, it was his excellent form in midfield in a dysfunctional United team that earned him his first cap as a substitute against Brazil in March. He was then Man of the Match, performing ridiculously well in the 2-2 draw with Belgium.
Mainoo’s form deteriorated in the final weeks of the season. It was probably because he was exhausted carrying some of his teammates.
But he saved them again in the FA Cup final against Manchester City, with a Man of the Match performance in the 2-1 victory.
A bit like Adam Wharton, he was part of England’s 26-man squad to soak up the experience, learn what it’s like to take part in a major tournament and perhaps, if necessary, make some cameo appearances off the bench.
And the fact that he was effectively Southgate’s third choice to partner Declan Rice here in Germany tells you exactly where he was in a team of 26.
Midfielder Trent Alexander-Arnold missed the first two games against Serbia and Denmark. Conor Gallagher – despite some brilliant substitute performances in those games – really struggled in his match against Slovenia.
Aside from Palmer’s strong appearance as a substitute, Mainoo’s performance against Slovakia was the only bright spot in a grim and extremely happy victory over Slovakia in the round of 16.
There has always been concern about Mainoo’s movement when England don’t have the ball, but that will come with experience, as it would with any other central midfielder.
Still, Mainoo solved Southgate’s problem and now England can continue to dream big. And it’s completely unthinkable if you consider how they played in the group stage when they defeated Germany.
In Sunday’s final, England’s experienced players will be able to build on the pain of the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020.
For Mainoo, this will be a completely new experience, but don’t expect it to go away. He’ll love it.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
