Versatile Rico Lewis passes his England audition

Terry Venables used to give his England players one instruction. Never mind simplifying it with one task, Gareth Southgate asked debutant Rico Lewis to play two positions. One of them, left-back, he has played only a handful of times.

But that is what is expected of Pep’s prodigies, these hybrid footballers for whom the term ‘academy graduate’ takes on intellectual meaning.

Stepping into midfield when England had the ball, the transition was smooth, which could not be said of the pitch here in Skopje.

It was, though, in populating a third position that the moment arrived which threatened to define Lewis’ international bow, one day shy of his 19th birthday.

Quite why, at 5ft 7ins, he was challenging for an aerial ball in the centre-back’s domain of the six-yard area is a mystery.

But so was the VAR intervention that deemed he had hit Bojan Miovski in the face when jumping, admirably, to win his header. Lewis is the son of a former Thai-boxing champion and has spent hours in the ring himself, he hits far harder than that.

The injustice - North Macedonia took the lead from the rebound of the saved penalty - could have floored Lewis, especially if fearing his name would forever be attached to an infamous defeat. This was not Phil Neville at Euro 2000, but such things can stick.

That it seemed to inspire Lewis still further was extremely telling. This should not really be a point of pride, but his shot in first-half injury-time was England’s first on target. The kid was leading the comeback from the front. Yes, in yet another position.

But in showing strength from adversity, he proved to Southgate a resilience needed at major tournaments, when England will inevitably run into some trouble against far better opposition than this.

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