GiveMeSport
·14 September 2022
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·14 September 2022
Marcus Edwards is a special English talent plying his trade at Sporting Lisbon.
The London-born 23-year-old actually came through the ranks at Tottenham, leaving for Portugal in 2019 in the hunt for more gametime.
But turning out for Sporting last night, Edwards showed his former club exactly what they passed up on with a stellar performance to help his side to victory.
Edwards was so good that Owen Hargreaves even tipped him for the England squad based off his first-half display alone.
“There were loads of internationals and he was the best player on the pitch. That’s what you want as a player, an opportunity.” Hargreaves said prior to the commencement of the second-half whilst live on BT Sport.
“He can play in different positions. He’s playing as a false nine really well and can play as a number 10. He just takes the ball so well. I think there’s always a space for a player like that in the team.”
High praise for the overall performance of Edwards then, but it was one moment in particular that really dazzled viewers and pundits alike.
The incredible passage of play came in the 46th minute when Edwards picked up the ball on the half-way line and skinned multiple Spurs players in a very Diego Maradona-esque fashion.
We are, of course, talking about the Argentine’s famous goal vs England in the 1986 World Cup which was later voted as the ‘Goal of the Century.’
Like Maradona, the Englishman traversed his way through the barrage of opposition players before performing a cheeky one-two with his teammate, skinning another defender and nearly scoring what would surely have been crowned the goal of the tournament.
And yes – we know Maradona did it all on his own and then converted the final chance, but come on, this is still pretty impressive stuff from Edwards.
Check out what Peter Crouch also branded a ‘spectacular’ piece of play below.
If only Edwards had finished off that masterpiece by smashing the ball into the top right stantion… now that would have been something.
We’re sure that he would have loved nothing more than to announce himself to the world with by scoring such an ingenious goal.
But Edwards can take solace in the fact his team ran out eventual winners over Spurs.
And with the added attention that’s sure to come his way over the coming months, who knows, maybe we will see him in an England shirt in the near future.
The pundits on BT Sport were full of praise for the piece of genius, with Crouch saying, per The Daily Mail:
“There’s not many passages of play that have all of us on our feet and we were at this moment. I know we’ve got a foot in the Spurs camp, but this was an unbelievable run.”
Jermaine Jenas added: “It’s one of those runs just from a football purist’s side of things, you look at it and go ‘go on then, finish it’. You’ve done everything right, it’s incredible. The body swerving, the movement, the control.”