Sunday 12 June 2016 23:12, UK
England suffered late disappointment as Vasili Berezutski’s stoppage-time goal was enough to earn Russia a 1-1 draw in their Group B opener. But the efforts of England’s goalscorer Eric Dier were a real positive for Roy Hodgson. Adam Bate examines why.
We already knew he was the only holding midfielder in England's squad. He's also filling in as the fourth-choice centre-back too. But few were expecting Eric Dier to emerge as his country's free-kick hero as well. It's only served to reinforce the message that's becoming increasingly apparent - Dier is essential to England's hopes at Euro 2016.
That's astonishing given that the game against Russia was not only the 22-year-old's first tournament game for his country but also his first competitive appearance at senior level. This is a player who was omitted from Gareth Southgate's Under-21 squad last summer on the grounds that he'd still be eligible for the competition in Poland next year.
Dier shouldn't need to worry too much about that trip now. His fierce free-kick in Marseille has confirmed his ascent to the role of England regular. The Spurs midfielder might have already scored the winner in a friendly against Germany in March but this was something different - pushing ahead of team-mate Harry Kane in the queue and justifying it too.
England supporters might have believed there were others more suited to the task of cracking one into the net from 20 yards. However, nobody is under any illusions about the fact that Dier is irreplaceable as Roy Hodgson's holding midfielder. Others have been tried there, but nobody else has the necessary skill-set for the role.
There was a telling moment minutes after he'd put his side ahead. Wayne Rooney was dispossessed high up the field, leaving six England players ahead of the ball and effectively out of the game. Dier ducked his head and went into sprint mode to win the ball back off Aleksandr Kokorin within his own half. He's become effective at snuffing out such danger.
Perhaps that's to be expected given his experience as a defender, although few could have anticipated his success further forwards. The role wasn't completely new to him this past season, of course - he played there in a Lisbon derby for Sporting against Benfica early in his career. Indeed, he's the only man in England's squad to have played any club football abroad.
Is that a factor in the ease of his adaptation to international football? The basics of ball retention have certainly served Dier well. Speaking to him at the Under-20 World Cup in Turkey in 2013 while he was still a Sporting player, it was clear that he felt it had made him a more composed player on the ball.
"We've worked on that ever since we were very little," he said back then. "It's all about possession and keeping hold of the ball. I'm just used to that because that's what I've grown up doing." Now he's doing it for England, not only making more passes than his team-mates but at a better pass completion rate too - succeeding with 90 per cent of his 68 passes.
If there's an ongoing concern it's over whether Dier will receive enough support in midfield to complement his tidy distribution. For Tottenham, he was part of Mauricio Pochettino's orchestra rather than a soloist and in Mousa Dembele, he was accompanied by one of only a handful of midfielders to make 100 tackles in that Premier League campaign.
Now he and fellow Spurs youngster Dele Alli have Rooney for company in the middle. Against Russia it worked well enough with the England captain embracing his deeper role, doing some good work in his own box as well. When Dier went on one driving run in the second half, Alli was also there to pick up the pieces when the attack broke down.
However, it's one thing to make what's effectively a split team - five defensive players and five attack-minded ones - work against a largely laboured Russia; it's quite another to overcome the bigger challenges that are ahead if England are to achieve their ambitions in France this summer, starting with Thursday's game against Wales in Lens.
Gareth Bale will be looking to drop deep and Dier needs to occupy those areas. Aaron Ramsey can also be expected to make the sort of runs from which he was able to latch onto Joe Ledley's threaded pass in setting up Hal Robson-Kanu for Wales' winner against Slovakia. Dier must be at his most vigilant.
It's a challenge that England need him to rise to. But all the signs so far suggest that Dier possesses precisely the sort of character to do just that. And what's more, we now know that if the game is to be decided by a top-class free-kick, it won't necessarily be Bale who's responsible for scoring it…
