In honor of Declan Rice’s 50th cap, Harry Styles and James Corden threw him a party during England’s 2-2 draw with Belgium on Tuesday night.
Because of this, the Arsenal man was made captain for the friendly game at Wembley. There was nothing Rice could say about this.
Rice said he “stood up, shook Gareth Southgate’s hand, gave him a hug, and said “thank you so much”” when Southgate told him he would be leading the team against Tedesco’s team.
“He trusts me and believes in me, so I’ve joined the team,” Rice said.
Corden (a big West Ham fan) and Styles decided to celebrate the night in style because they had a reason to.
The three of them went to the famous Chiltern Firehouse to party until 4 a.m. and then left early the next morning. There were also James Maddison and Jordan Henderson at the party. Both of them play for their country.
Jude Bellingham was also there. He got the game-tying goal at the very end, saving England’s face after they had been down for most of the game. He hid the fact that he had been on the tiles all night by putting on sunglasses.
Styles sped off in a ready car so that the camera wouldn’t catch him. The group that went home from the Marylebone boite was led by Bellingham, Maddison, and others very slowly.
It’s likely that the diehard Manchester United fan told the player what they thought about not moving to Old Trafford last summer. Instead, he shockingly moved to Arsenal for £105 million, leaving Chelsea behind as they tried to win the title.
Before the game, Rice was given a pair of custom-made Adidas boots by fellow ex-Hammer Frank Lampard. There was also a party in his honor.
Lampard was an English football player who scored 29 goals in 106 games for England from 1999 to 2014. He gave Rice a one-of-a-kind pair of shoes before the game with Adidas.
The shoes were made to look like the English flag and the country’s colors, which are red, white, and blue. There was also a sign on the side of the shoe that said “50 goals.”
Lampard spoke a few words to the Arsenal player and told him how proud he was of scoring the big goal before handing Rice the shoes.
“Don’t make this seem like a small thing,” he told Declan. As a child, every football player wants to play for their country, so getting 50 caps is a big thing.
“I can’t wait to see what he and this young team do this summer to get ready for the Summer Olympics.”
Indeed, Rice agreed with these thoughts and added, “It’s a big deal for me to reach this point.”
How cool is it to get 50 caps? People who know me well know how important it is for me to play for my country. I can’t wait to wear my new boots on the field to mark the event.
Rice is the fifth-youngest player on the national team to get to this point. The youngest is Wayne Rooney, who is 24 years old. The youngest is Michael Owen, who is 16.
But as the player got close to fifty, he couldn’t get a win because England fell behind twice and had to work hard to get a late draw.
Youri Tielemans of Aston Villa was the first player to score against England. He did it in the 11th minute. The game was then tied with a penalty kick by Ivan Toney, who had finally played.
After Tielemans scored his second goal, England fell behind. Romelu Lukaku, who is on loan from Chelsea, hit a well-hit cross that Tielemans head-high into the goal.
He had to wait until the fifth minute of extra time to make sure England didn’t lose their second straight game at Wembley. They lost to Brazil 1-0 on Saturday. Endrick, a young Real Madrid hope, scored the only goal.
Some good things did happen, even though England didn’t win any of their last few matches before the European Championship this summer. Jarrod Bowen and Toney, who play for Harry Kane, had a good night, and Kobbie Mainoo, a young player for Manchester United, made his start for his country.
Southgate said after the game that it was almost odd how sure of himself the 18-year-old player looked.
“Kobbie gave us something different from a creative point of view,” the boss said.
“Everyone can see how good he is: he can handle stress, stay calm, and move the ball around in small spaces.” We can’t believe how young he is and how well he did.