Phil Foden left the England team camp and returned to London urgently to attend to an “urgent family matter.” The English federation issued a statement in which it only reported that the 24-year-old footballer returned to his country temporarily to deal with a family emergency. The news caused astonishment and suspicion in the English press, which is investigating the reasons for this abrupt resolution of one of the stars of the team led by Gareth Southgate.
Guardian headlined “England’s woes mount as Phil Foden returns home on a family matter” and The Sun led his article with “Phil Foden leaves Euros to return to UK for ‘urgent family matter’”. He Email Online on its cover shed some light on the mystery of his sudden absence: in the long and characteristic title of its article it suggests that Foden returned to the country to accompany his pregnant girlfriend at the birth of her third child and that he would be available to play the match for the round of 16 of the Euro Cup. The journalist specialized in the transfer market, Fabrizio Romano, contributed to fueling the birth theory by stating on his Twitter account that the footballer returned home to be present at the birth of his third child. “He is expected to return to the England squad on Sunday.“, held.
Foden already has two children with his girlfriend Rebecca Cooke, 22 years old: a son, Ronnie, born in January 2019, and True, a daughter born in 2021. In April of this year, the footballer’s eldest son announced on social networks that his parents are expecting their third child in a message to his four million followers on Instagram. Ronnie became a star when Manchester City celebrated their third consecutive league title. They know him affectionately as “el Wey”, he is loved on social networks and has already been recruited by a modeling agency in England.
In England, despite the mystery spread by the federation, they know that Foden attended the birth of his third child and that he could return to play in the round of 16 of the Euro Cup, which will take place on the afternoon of Sunday, June 30 against a rival still to be defined. The English team is coming off a goalless draw against Slovenia in a duel held on June 25. The tie left them as the leader of group C after two draws and one victory. In the three games, he scored only two goals: Bellingham against Serbia and Kane against Denmark. And he exhibited, in turn, a debt in his operation.
Despite having qualified first in their group, England arrived as one of the main candidates for the title and for now their football level is disappointing. Their rival on Sunday would be one of the three third parties in groups D, E or F, among which is the Netherlands, who was already the last classified in his group. The third date of groups E and F, still open, remains to be played. The variants of possible rivals also concern Romania, Belgium, Slovakia, Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia and the Czech Republic.
Foden already has 37 international caps for his country and started all three of England’s games in the competition: against Serbia, Denmark and Slovenia. In the last two games he was replaced in the second half by Jarrod Bowen and Anthony Gordon, respectively. The playmaker who trained at Manchester City was named Premier League Footballer of the Year last season after scoring 24 goals and contributing ten assists as City won their fourth consecutive title.
His case recalled the recent precedent of the English team. It is the second consecutive tournament in which a member of their squad must return to their country suddenly. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Raheem Sterling had to leave the national team camp after his house was robbed. He did not miss a single match in the world’s top competition: he returned with his teammates to play in the quarter-final match, in which England lost against France 2-1. Sterling came on for Bukayo Saka in the 78th minute, after Giroud converted the second of the Gauls.
