Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson very impressive in England debut

Callum Wilson made his official England debut on Thursday in a friendly against the US, scoring once and creating tons of opportunities on the attack for the Three Lions as they won 3-0.

After beginning the 2018/19 Premier League campaign on an absolute tear, Callum Wilson was finally rewarded for his impressive form with Bournemouth this year. He was not only called up by England but was fortunate enough to be in Gareth Southgate’s starting eleven against the US on Thursday at Wembley, playing 79 minutes of quality football.

Wilson has scored six times and collected four assists in 12 appearances this year for The Cherries as they sit in sixth place in the Premier League.

Performance in his England debut

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After recovering from two serious knee injuries that almost ended his career, Wilson looked right at home in his debut for England. The 26-year old was involved early on in the match, putting pressure on US keeper Brad Guzan, who made an awful pass that Jesse Lingard intercepted.

The Man United midfielder then whipped across a ball into the six-yard box towards Wilson who just miss-hit a volley that soared past the left post. Just minutes later, Wilson then made a creative run behind the US back-line onto a Jesse Lingard through ball, only to his legs being taken out by Guzan but a penalty was not given to the Bournemouth star.

Even on England’s second goal, Wilson was a huge reason Trent Alexander-Arnold even had the chance to take a shot on net. He was fighting hard in the 18-yard box to win the ball and creatively made a short pass to Jadon Sancho, who led Alexander-Arnold with a ball cutting in from the right flank where he banged it home into the bottom left corner of the goal.

On England’s third goal, where Wilson finally bagged the first of his international career, he did a wonderful job of getting away from the US backline and making himself open enough to get on to a beautiful ball from Fabian Delph from the left flank, calmly hitting a volley with his left foot into the net.

He was playing physical, smart football up front all night long for England. From his creative runs behind the US defenders to drawing oppositions in order to create space for his own teammates, it was a very quality debut for Callum Wilson. He linked up with his new England teammates very well and could have had two or three more goals if he capitalized on his other opportunities.

Resilience to get the call-up

If it wasn’t for two unfortunate knee injuries that kept Wilson out for a long period of time, he probably would have seen a call-up to his country earlier. But even with all the gruesome injuries he dealt with, and we know how serious knee injuries can be for football players, he never gave up. The striker fought hard to get healthy and showed outstanding heart and resilience to get back to this type of form.

He is without a doubt one of the most talented strikers in the Premier League right now and will continue to get better at the young age of 26. He is an all-around attacker because other than netting goals, he’s a great talent at setting them up as well, evident of his four assists this year in club football.

Harry Kane is the number one for England, but having a player like Wilson as his back up in the future is a wonderful thing for Gareth Southgate. With Jamie Vardy retiring from International Football, it definitely opens some doors for Wilson on the England squad.

His debut will definitely speak for itself, along with his form this year for Bournemouth.