Sturridge has unshakeable faith in god — and himself

LENS — As per usual, it was first God to whom Daniel Sturridge (picture) gave credit for his winning goal against Wales in the second minute of injury time, but a close second to the power of the Almighty will be his unshakeable belief in his ability to score big goals in big games.

To say that Sturridge is a believer in his own capacity to deliver would be to sell short the self-belief of a man whose conviction has never wavered over two years of injury and four England caps since the last World Cup finals in 2014.

To put it bluntly, many people over that time have lost faith in Sturridge, or at least had their moments of doubt, but that has never been the case for the man himself.

When he wriggled into the Wales penalty area with almost two minutes of injury time played in Lens, two years and two days had elapsed since Sturridge’s last goal for England, against Italy in the opening game of the World Cup finals in Manaus. The past two seasons have seen him play 44 games for Liverpool, albeit with a decent return of 18 goals, and for a while it looked like he might not even get a place on the plane to France.

Sturridge is never an easy choice in a crisis — the likes of which England found themselves in a goal down against Wales at half-time — because he is essentially a man who plays the game at his own pace.

Even if his house was burning down around him, one would expect Sturridge to make his way patiently and unhurriedly towards the exit, perhaps with the occasional double-back and step-over to avoid burning debris.

Against Wales it was no different. While England tried to up the pace and move the ball with greater speed and intensity, Sturridge simply did what Sturridge always does. Whether that meant him shooting from outrageous distance or improbable angles, or indulging in half-a-dozen touches when one would have sufficed, then so be it.

There is a very strong upside to the unflappable self-absorption of Sturridge and that manifests itself in his penalty-box mentality, where he is the kind of striker for whom time slows down as defenders all around him lose their heads or, in the case of Ben Davies in Lens, their feet. This is the beauty of Sturridge: A Matrix-style slo-mo awareness of the shifting options open to him that he processes in the blink of an eye.

It takes a certain type of striker not to snatch at a chance in the very instant it presents itself, and it is his innate confidence that allows him to let the situation develop. Against Wales he waited until Davies bounced off him and went over and then judged the near post his best option, completely wrong-footing Wayne Hennessey, who seemed to expect the shot into the far corner.

It was Sturridge who crossed the ball for Jamie Vardy’s first goal and it was Sturridge who started the move for his own winner, a lay-off and a run that demanded a return pass in his direction.

In those moments he takes his time and picks his spot — a privilege afforded only to those who can be absolutely certain of their ability. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH