DORTMUND, Germany — Ollie Watkins lived in a split second in Dortmund the dream that every schoolboy rehearses day after day in the playground. A winning goal in extra time, sending his country to a major final, after coming on as a substitute. It’s a dream to be fought for.
And what a goal! With his back to goal and tightly marked by Dutch defender Stefan de Vrij on the edge of the penalty area, Watkins received the ball from substitute team-mate Cole Palmer, turned and unleashed a low shot that beat goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen to seal a 2-1 win for England in the Euro 2024 semi-finals and a first major final on foreign soil for the Three Lions.
But the 91st-minute winner that sealed the final game against Spain on Sunday was beyond Watkins’ dreams. The Aston Villa striker never dared to dream of such a feat.
“I didn’t dream of it, to be honest, I can’t lie,” Watkins said as he received his player of the match award at the end of the game. “To score for England was incredible, but I never thought I would do it in a tournament like this.
“But the amount of people who messaged me today saying I was going to score when I got to the lottery was ridiculous. They put it out into the universe and it happened, so hopefully they can do the same thing on Sunday and give me the lottery numbers!”
“I really have no words. When you score, emotions run through your body, but this is just a different feeling. It was in slow motion when I ran to the boys to celebrate.”
When the 28-year-old entered the press room at Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion, before he even sat down, a journalist told him his life would never be the same again.
That may be an exaggeration, but there is also some truth to it. Some will rightly point out that Watkins only scored the winning goal in the semi-final and that will mean far less if England fail to beat Spain in Sunday’s Euro 2024 final in Berlin.
But big goals scored in big moments can change the course of a player’s career and elevate them to another level. And even if they don’t, no England player or fan – not even manager Gareth Southgate – will ever forget the rush of adrenaline and instant joy that goal provided.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær became a Manchester United legend when he scored the winning goal in added time in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final, while David Platt was just a promising Aston Villa player when he scored the last-minute winner against Belgium in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. It was a goal that propelled Platt to stardom and earned him a career-changing move to Serie A a few weeks later.
Who knows what this goal will do for Watkins? Forget the long term for now, the big question is whether he will have done enough for Southgate to start him in place of England captain Harry Kane against Spain on Sunday.
It’s an unlikely scenario, but Watkins offers the pace and pressure that Kane has been unable to provide and he has now scored a crucial goal in a crucial game. He is certainly knocking hard on the door. Watkins is already a Premier League star at Villa, but he has spent this tournament in the shadow of Kane, who scored an 18th-minute penalty after a superb opener from Xavi Simons 11 minutes earlier, and fellow forwards Palmer and Ivan Toney.
When Southgate introduced him in the 81st minute, it was only the second time Watkins had appeared at the tournament and the first time since coming off as a substitute against Denmark in England’s second game.
At 28, he is at the peak of his career, a player who has worked hard to get to this point. A decade ago, he was a youth player at Exeter City in EFL League One and was loaned to sixth-tier Weston-Super-Mare to gain experience. The small club was quick to tweet their congratulations to Watkins after the game.
Ollie Watkins’ post.
Dreams come true 🤍🖤 https://t.co/KKF10fDKor pic.twitter.com/Y89bGeIrtk
— Weston-super-Mare AFC (@WSM_AFCOfficial) July 10, 2024
From Weston-Super-Mare to the Westfalenstadion is a journey no Euro 2024 player can claim to have made, but in doing so Watkins is not only a hero to all the youngsters who dream of playing for their country, but also to those players who feel their careers are heading in the wrong direction and just need a break to climb the ladder.
“I’ve worked hard to get to this point and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it,” Watkins said. “I didn’t want to leave the field at the end, I just wanted to enjoy it all.
“I never thought I would be playing in the Euros with England (when I was at Weston-Super-Mare). You can dream, but I’m realistic and I’ve taken it day by day, step by step. At the time, I was just dreaming of getting back into the Exeter first team.”
But even if Watkins’ story is something of a fairy tale, being a fringe player at a major tournament can be tough. Long weeks spent on the “other side” of training, smiling when teammates are selected, wondering whether it might have been better to take a long break on a deckchair rather than kill time in a hotel room during a five-week training camp.
And while he was happy to enjoy the moment, he made it clear that he was not in Germany just to make up the numbers.
“It’s frustrating because I don’t like being on the bench,” Watkins said. “I’ve just had the best season of my career but my friends told me to be patient and that I would get opportunities. But when I was on the bench I thought I could make a difference and now I’ve taken my chance and scored.
“I told Cole (Palmer) at halftime that we were going to get it together and he was going to set me up and I did it, I showed it. I don’t think I’ve ever hit a ball that well before.”
It was a great finish, and Watkins will want to have another moment like that in his career. But he might get that chance Sunday to do even better.
“We are now in the final,” he said. “One last game. They are a great football team, with a lot of depth, and it is the most important game of our lives. But for now, we want to celebrate this one.”