Jamie Vardy’s European party finally underway

Jamie Vardy and Leicester City have broken more than a few records over the course of the last year and the striker has been key in most of them. Today he marked the next chapter in his career, and notched up another first for the Foxes in England’s match against Wales. He becomes the first Leicester player to score in a major tournament for the Three Lions too. With four goals in five England games, he’s made a strong claim to start the next game. Regardless of where his future lies, he is still currently beloved by the Foxes faithful.

You could almost hear the number of eyes rolling when the England line-up was announced and it remained unchanged from the side that had to settle for a late draw to Russia last weekend. Despite a large majority calling out for his presence, Vardy would have to wait for his chance that little bit longer. Watching with colleagues, not all Leicester fans either, it was a unanimous opinion that not switching to play two strikers, Vardy or otherwise, was a mistake. Roy Hodgson hadn’t caved to media pressure and would keep the faith with a system that had shown some promise in the previous match.

This was a game that just over a month ago had the potential to pit two Leicester players for England against one for Wales, instead kicked off with none on the pitch and just two on the respective benches. Danny Drinkwater didn’t make the final squad for Hodgson’s side and Andy King has yet to make it off the bench for Wales who boast a strong midfield in this tournament. It’s been a mixed tournament so far for Leicester players in general. It has surprised few to watch N’Golo Kante boss things for France, notching up an assist in their opening game. But Christian Fuchs’ Austria got off to a nightmare start, losing to Hungary and finishing the game with ten men.

It wasn’t an entirely smooth start for England who again looked too narrow and despite possession hadn’t troubled Wayne Hennessey’s goal too often. The majority of the four chances for Hodgson’s side came from set pieces so when Gareth Bale struck a free-kick, albeit tame by his standard, that crept past Joe Hart, it felt inevitable. Coming just minutes before half-time, there was a sense that something had to change at half-time.

Vardy may silently thank Bale as the England manager admitted post-match that had his side been drawing, or winning, he would not have made any substitutes at the break. The frustration of that goal late into the first half somewhat forced his hand. The noise levels among my colleagues when Daniel Sturridge and Vardy were getting ready to come on lifted and although Raheem Sterling’s departure didn’t surprise anybody, the decision to remove Harry Kane certainly did. It’s not been the start to a tournament that Kane would have hoped for, but he’s not been helped by being the lone striker either.

Two up top seemed to energise England and meant that Wales were stretched and tested more in the opening ten minutes of the second half than the entire first half. It seemed to allow the full-backs to do more and certainly brought Wayne Rooney more into the game again. For Vardy it was his chance to prove exactly why you want him on the pitch and while he didn’t get a lot of the ball early on, he made the usual moves and runs that tend to see him in the right place at the right time.

Who else would pop up and start the comeback for England if not the man that many had been crying out for. Not a world class goal, but a key one for the striker. Leicester players must populate nightmares for Ashley Williams given the season he’s had against them. He was run ragged by a combination of Vardy and Riyad Mahrez for Swansea a few months ago and was unlucky to touch the ball meaning Vardy’s otherwise wildly offside position would not rule out the equalising goal. With the ball that caused the issues for Wales delivered by Sturridge, the two substitutes had already made a key impact within fifteen minutes of coming on.

With a late injury-time winner courtesy of Hodgson’s other half-time substitute, Sturridge, the manager is left with plenty of options that will likely cause him a good kind of dilemma ahead of the final group game against Slovakia on Monday night. The second half display was an improvement and certainly allowed a more attacking style. England created fourteen chances in the second half compared to just six in the opening one. While England should make it out of the group, sitting pretty at the top, there’s still a job to be done, meaning we’ll want to go for the win and leave nothing to chance. This performance backed the justification for accommodating both strikers in the side and can surely only be done at the expense of Kane and Sterling, both of whom failed to show their true potential against the Welsh. Will Hodgson be bold with his selection and start the side who kicked off the second half? I hope so.

When the Foxes signed Jamie Vardy for £1 million from Fleetwood Town, not many would have predicted that four years later, fresh off the back of becoming a Premier League Champion, he’d be making England fans jump up in celebration as he netted his first tournament goal. Apart from Vardy that is, who had an England call-up bonus clause in his contract from day one at Leicester. It’s the kind of thing dreams are made of and I wouldn’t be surprised if, given the opportunity, he doubles his tally at the Euros next week.