Gareth Southgate’s England side came from behind to beat World Cup finalists Croatia at Wembley and progress to the finals of the inaugural Uefa Nations League.
Having fallen behind in the second half at Wembley to an Andrej Kramarić goal, they were facing relegation to the second tier of the new international competition square in the face when they were awarded a throw right-hand side of the field deep into Croatian territory with the clock approaching 80 minutes.
It would be Joe Gomez, who has been working with the long-throw coach Thomas Gronnemark at his club Liverpool, who’d step up to take it and try and get his side back into the running.
He managed to do that, with his flat, meaty effort reaching Harry Kane at the back post, the Spurs striker managing to turn the ball goalward to be helped in by Jesse Lingard.
That sent them on their way to yet another positive result this year, after the ever-reliable Harry Kane notched a second to send Southgate’s men through - but allow us to play the Grinch for one moment.
Gomez’ practice at throw-ins might well have missed an element, with the young defender visibly stepping over the line while launching the ball into the box before England’s opener, which, if it had been spotted, would have been ruled as a foul.
Have a look at the replay and tell us what you think below the line.
It’s a case of ‘what if’ for the Croats in any case now, they’ll now drop down to the second tier of the competition at the expense of the Three Lions.
Gomez launches a throw into the box and it falls to Lingard who taps into an empty net! 💫
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