A night to remember for the Manchester City forward
Raheem Sterling followed his recent hat-trick for Manchester City with another on Friday, this time for England in their comprehensive and impressive 5-0 victory over the Czech Republic at Wembley.
The opening game to their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign could really have not gone any better. They controlled the game throughout and showed their superiority at almost every opportunity.
The first half was a little slow to get going, pace wise, but Southgate’s side went in at half-time 2-0 up after a lovely move which saw Harry Kane and then Jadon Sancho play lovely passes before the ball was knocked in by Raheem Sterling, prior to a Harry Kane penalty on the stroke of the 45.
🙌 @sterling7 dedicated his second goal to schoolboy Damary Dawkins who died this week from leukaemia https://t.co/vX4z1vDRks
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) March 22, 2019
Sterling would add to his tally in the second half, scoring a further two before a Tomos Kalas own goal gave England their fifth of the night.
It was Sterling’s second which grabbed the attention of some however, particularly his celebration.
After scoring a lovely curling finish with his left foot, Sterling ran to the corner flag lifting up his shirt.
Underneath he revealed a photograph of schoolboy Damary Dawkins, who passed away from leukaemia this week.
12-year-old Damary was a Crystal Palace elite development squad player who was diagnosed with very rare acute lymphoblastic leukaemia aged 9.
Sterling had stepped in and used his social media accounts to try and help find Damary a donor, but despite finding one in the United States he passed away on Sunday.
“Damary was a kid I was trying to help. We thought we found a donor but sadly it didn’t match and he sadly passed away. I thought I had to do something to give his family something to smile about,” said Sterling after the match when asked about him.
.@sterling7 thank you for all of your support towards #Match4Damary. On behalf of his family and all of us at #ACLT, we're grateful. pic.twitter.com/DsYZM7cybu
— ACLT Charity (@acltcharity) March 22, 2019
