First was the tackle that left Morgan Schneiderlin on his backside and signalled Dele Alli was in the mood. Then when he got the ball from Wayne Rooney and switched it to his right foot, there was no hesitation from the young Tottenham midfielder at doing what came naturally.
His first England goal came on a strange night for international football, in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks against a France team that clearly had mixed feelings about playing the game. In different circumstances, a goal of that quality from a 19-year-old winning his fourth cap would have been afforded greater significance, in different circumstances he might not have been given the time and space to do it.
But that should not detract from the achievement of a shot hit from 30 yards out, past no less a goalkeeper than Hugo Lloris, and as good a first goal for England by a teenage international as any in recent memory.
Alli has been the breakthrough young English player of the season, especially because his rise from League One to Roy Hodgson’s senior team has been so quick. A year previous to the France game he had been playing for MK Dons in a home win over Port Vale, but here was a young man whose progress from the third tier to Premier League football had been effortless.
Hodgson’s team won all 10 of their games in a very mediocre Euro 2016 qualifying group, one of those records that will be impossible to judge objectively until after the adventure has been completed in France in June.
What cannot be ignored is the emergence of a new generation of players who are changing the profile of Hodgson’s squad rapidly.
Harry Kane, Ross Barkley, Alli and John Stones are the prime figures, with three debuts in the past four England games, encompassing Alli, Eric Dier and the now-injured Danny Ings. Raheem Sterling already has one tournament under his belt, so too the injured Luke Shaw, and then there are the older members of the squad who have forced their way into the reckoning – Jamie Vardy, Nathaniel Clyne, Ryan Bertrand.
More sophisticated European football nations are accustomed to the emergence of a few new international candidates each year, but for Hodgson that has not been the case until recently. He and his staff deliberately selected a relatively inexperienced squad for the 2014 World Cup because they believed it would lay the foundations for next summer.
It was a bold move, given how swiftly England went out in Brazil. There are no guarantees for next summer either, especially given England’s injury record. Hodgson began the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with the ambition to build a team around Jack Wilshere, who has still yet to kick a ball this season for Arsenal. Similarly, Arsène Wenger has made no promises about the date of Danny Welbeck’s return and already the England manager has said he must have contingency plans.
It is the young ones who inspire the greatest hope, however, with Sterling and the four from Spurs and Everton being the pick. In addition, Jack Butland is the first credible alternative in goal to Joe Hart since the latter was given the role after the 2010 World Cup.
A very young England team lost to Spain in November and although the opposition were strong and the score just 2-0, you did wonder why it would be different if they were to face each other next summer. They play a different kind of game in Spain, still the great international team of the past 10 years, and English players struggle with it.
There were some good moments that evening in Alicante and the national team certainly now have a small group of young players who are established for club and country, which is not saying a great deal, but is at least an improvement on the past four years.
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