Saka confirms status as England’s greatest hope for taking the next step

W ith 40 minutes gone at Wembley Stadium Bukayo Saka took the ball in the inside left channel, bumped away the yellow shirt at his back and produced that familiar whip‑crack turn, one of those moments where he just seems to have a weirdly preternatural grasp of the physics of movement, snaking off into spaces that aren’t, technically, supposed to be there. Perhaps this is one reason why he gets kicked a lot. There is no logical answer to this problem.

Saka had time to think about what to do next, a micro-second of processing time. The finish was ridiculous. Not novel or unorthodox: the left-foot shot curled across goal, starting outside the line of the post, hips opened out to make the angle. We know that angle. It’s drill, a set move.

This was just a little different, the ball curving straight from Saka’s foot and continuing in a cool, smooth parabola – not swaz or swing or dip, but a section of a perfect circle, like something drawn with an architect’s compass.

It travelled slowly, a lovely orangey-white orb, hanging there in the sallow evening air as necks were craned, with time to relish the moment of stillness before the ball rustled the netting and the stands erupted, lost in their own noise for perhaps the only time all afternoon.

England were already 1-0 up by that stage, courtesy of another moment from Saka three minutes earlier, the opening act in a short but sustained passage of incision that sat this game down like a Vulcan death grip.

Ukraine had doubled up doggedly against Saka from the opening minutes. The plan was clear. Force him inside on to his (hang on) left foot. Oh. Wait. With 37 minutes gone Saka duly went back on to that stronger side and zipped a perfect flat dipping cross to the far post.