Chatter rippled quickly across the Wembley press room, a buzz of excitement quickly following. It was the first thing most people looking at hot-off-the-press team sheets mentioned.
"Foden's starting."
Since describing the playmaker as "a gift" in the aftermath of his maiden senior outing for Manchester City against Manchester United in the 2017 International Champions Cup, Pep Guardiola persistently had his use of Foden questioned.
The teenager wasn't playing enough, then he wasn't starting enough, then he wasn't starting enough meaningful games. Guardiola maintained he had a plan and it absolutely did not include Foden going out on loan.
But there he was in the first XI for a major cup final. He responded by turning in a man-of-the-match display as City beat Aston Villa 2-1 to win a third consecutive EFL Cup.
They will look to make it four in a row against Tottenham at Wembley on Sunday and, in the interim period, Foden has scarcely looked back.
A serious player
His outing in the 2020 final was Foden's 61st appearance for City, going back to a competitive debut from the bench against Feyenoord in the Champions League in November 2017.
Those initial steps of his career saw him make 24 starts and play 2,439 minutes. His knockdown for Sergio Aguero to open the scoring against Villa was a 10th assist to sit alongside 10 goals.
In a little over a year since, Foden has almost doubled his appearances with 56 and 38 starts contribute to a major leap of 3,598 minutes played.
The returns those appearances have yielded do much to explain his status as a one of Guardiola's go-to men, to the extent it is possible he will be afforded the luxury of a rest against Spurs, given City have a Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain on the horizon and a Premier League title to wrap up.
That might not be the most advisable course of action, given City's record of won 26, drawn three, lost one when Foden starts this season. The sole defeat came in the second Premier League game of the season against Leicester City in September.
That win percentage of 86.7 per cent drops to 68.2 (W15 D3 L4) when Guardiola opts to take Foden out of the firing line.
"His influence in our game is massive right now," the City manager told Sky Sports after another man-of-the-match showing at Villa's expense in midweek, where Foden netted a first-half equaliser in a 2-1 win before his twinkling feet mercilessly goaded opposition right-back Matty Cash into a red card.
"He is becoming a serious player for us," Guardiola added.
Pep's most prolific youngster
Last season's EFL Cup final was played out in front of a capacity Wembley crowd, for whom the Super League was a rugby league competition. It truly was a different world.
Whatever this disorientating reality is, Foden is making it his own.
In the period since he has scored 19 and laid on a further 11 in all competitions, with his minutes-per-goal figure down from 244 to 189 and shot conversion up from 13 to 16.5 per cent.
Such sharp shooting saw him score the winner in both legs of City's Champions League quarter-final win over Borussia Dortmund, the latter rasping strike leading to a cathartic and emotional embrace with Guardiola.
Unsurprisingly, Foden is far outstripping his expected goals (xG) figure of 11.8 since the 2020 EFL Cup final, while an xG 9.8 aligned almost exactly with his 10 goals beforehand.
This higher output is because, much to the profound discomfort of Cash and others, Foden has evolved from the scheming midfielder of his youth to an explosive and versatile wide attacker.
Only Kevin De Bruyne with 24 has been directly involved in more City goals than Foden's 23 this season, thanks to his 14 goals and nine assists.
Looking further back across a career where Guardiola has worked with some of the finest young talent in the game, Foden's overall 29 goals and 21 assists give him 50 goal involvements – more than any other player before turning 21 under the former Barcelona Bayern Munich boss.
The England international's 29 goals are also unmatched among that age group, with Bojan Krkic also scoring the same number for Guardiola's Barcelona.
This weekend is unlikely to be the last time Foden graces Wembley this year, as a starring role with England at Euro 2020 surely awaits – the 20-year-old having taken to international football effortlessly.
From boy to main man
"He was a boy when I arrived, at 17 years old he trained every day with these guys and played more minutes," Guardiola said on Friday.
"Now he is stronger with his physicality, but it is normal. He is still at an age to get stronger, play more minutes and have more experience.
"He has the ability to play in different positions. That's why he is a better player but still, like every player, he can be better. It depends on him."
In this week of all weeks, as he hauled his boyhood team to a vital win, there was something delightful about watching Foden's star continue its unchecked and rapid ascent since that surprise cup final call.
When the modern City began stacking up trophies almost a decade ago, he cheered them on from pitchside as a ballboy. Now, he plays a pivotal role in everything they achieve.
Given his employers' involvement in the tawdry Super League debacle, it will be an incredibly long time until any vaguely romantic notions can be pinned to Manchester City as an organisation.
But Foden's story, that of a young man living out his childhood fantasy every week, playing the football from all of our wildest dreams, is one any fan can cherish. Its appeal is something the suited goons and hedge fund cretins will never understand.
When Foden plays, in those moments of velvet first touches, darting dribbles and thumping finishes, all the nonsense melts away in the face of pure footballing talent. Guardiola was right, he really is a gift.
Charlie Smith strengthen second round ambition with 4-0 win over Tarrant; STATHS hammer KT 18-1
Former champions Charlie Smith High strengthened their chances of progressing to the second round of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup as they blanked Tarrant High 4-0 in their Zone B contest at the former’s Ninth Street base on Tuesday.
The win by Charlie Smith consolidated their hold on second position on 18 points and a healthy goal difference ahead of third-placed Jonathan Grant (15 points), who will be in action against fourth-placed Waterford (10 points) on Wednesday.
Reigning champions Mona High heads the Zone on 22 points, with Tarrant in fifth on six points, while Gaynstead High remain pointless.
Elsewhere, Zone D leaders St Andrew Technical (STATHS) hammered Kingston Technical 18-1 as they continue to hold Calabar at bay in the race for the top spot. Calabar defeated Vauxhall 4-1 at their Red Hills Road base.
Both teams moved to 22 points each, with STATHS holding a four-goal advantage over Calabar, while Haile Selassie (12 points), who lost 0-2 to Camperdown (11 points), remain third. Kingston Technical is still yet to gain a point.
Tuesday’s results
STATHS 18, Kingston Technical 1
Calabar 4, Vauxhall 1
Charlie Smith 4, Tarrant 0
Ascot High 4, Pembroke Hall 2
Haile Selassie 0, Camperdown 4
Dinthill, Port Antonio High open DaCosta Cup second round with 0-0 draw
Dinthill Technical and Port Antonio High opened the second round of the 2024 ISSA/Wata DaCosta Cup with a goalless draw at Carder Park on Tuesday.
For Dinthill, who finished second in Zone J of the first round on goal difference behind McGrath High, this was their second straight disappointing performance after a 1-2 loss to Charlemont High on Friday.
For Port Antonio, who comfortably won Zone M to advance to the second round, this is their second consecutive draw after eight consecutive wins to start the season.
Central High and Yallahs will face off tomorrow at Foga Road in the other Group 6 game.
Other games set for Wednesday include:
(Group 8) Christiana High vs Garvey Maceo High @Brooks Park
(Group 5) Happy Grove High vs Holmwood Tech @Carder Park
(Group 2) Ocho Rios High vs Black River High @Drax Hall
(Group 8) McGrath High vs St. Mary High @Ewarton Sports Complex
(Group 7) Glenmuir High vs Clarendon College @Glenmuir High
(Group 4) Maldon High vs Brown’s Town High @Jarrett Park
(Group 1) Cornwall College vs Kemps Hill High @Jarrett Park
(Group 3) Manning’s School vs Manchester High @Llandilo Community Centre
(Group 5) Belair High vs Denbigh High @Manchester High
(Group 4) Munro College vs Alphansus Davis High @Munro College
(Group 3) STETHS vs William Knibb Memorial @STETHS
(Group 1) Spot Valley High vs Rusea’s High @Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium
(Group 7) Paul Bogle High vs Titchfield High @York Oval
Portugal lacked 'a little bit of magic' in Scotland stalemate, says Martinez
Portugal manager Roberto Martinez was in a defensive mood following his team's goalless draw away to Scotland in the Nations League on Tuesday night.
After scoring in each of the Spaniard's first 12 competitive matches in charge of Portugal, the Selecao have since drawn a blank in four of their last seven matches.
Portugal did have their chances, however, registering 14 shots during the contest, though only three were on target, ending the night with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.52.
Martinez faced criticism for lacking a plan B after his side struggled to break the Scots down.
"Our talent of our players, is plan A, B, C, D, E," he told De Sporto after the match.
"We have players inside, outside, we are talking about a team that did not take risks, that defended very well.
"We are talking about a team [Portugal] that reached 53 times in the last third. We have to give credit to Scotland and to us the fact that we managed to keep a clean sheet."
It was a frustrating night for Martinez and fans alike.
Despite Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Jota among other big hitters starting, they were unable to find a way past 41-year-old goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who made some impressive saves when they did get in on goal.
When asked what was missing from the performance, he alluded to a lack of individual quality.
"A decision, a little bit of magic in the area. We had a lot of desire, we worked very well without the ball," Martinez said.
"It was a dangerous game because we could have possession of the ball, but Scotland have little need to score a goal. We showed freshness, but we lacked freshness in the last third.
"You also have to give credit to Scotland, they had a lot of players in front of goal, their goalkeeper also made a spectacular save."
Following the performance and result at Hampden Park, there have been further questions about Martinez's selection policy for Portugal.
The most high-profile query of all remains whether 39-year-old Ronaldo should continue, having had a difficult night on his 200th start for his country.
"The national team always has an open door, but now we are talking about a very, very large group of players," said Martinez.
"It is a question of continuing to connect and synchronise what we can do. Now the game in Porto is to celebrate qualification in front of our fans."
Scotland manager Steve Clarke, meanwhile, was much happier with the evening's result, which ended a four-game losing run for Scotland.
"It's not about turning a corner, it's just about working hard and not letting the country down. You could see that tonight," he said.
"The point was important for us after the work the group put in to get off the mark."
The result also marked Scotland's first clean sheet since beating Gibraltar 2-0 seven games ago in a pre-Euro 2024 warm-up friendly.
The performance at the back was another thing that pleased Clarke.
"Defensively sound, the shape of the team was good," he said.
"We denied a lot of space in behind. Good concentration in the box, determined defending at times, some really good blocks, which you need against sides like Portugal.
"Everyone contributed to earn the point."
Despite taking an unexpected point, Scotland are still bottom of their Nations League group, while the draw means they are winless in 10 matches - their longest ever run.
But Clarke feels the players will take a lot from Tuesday's match that will help them going forward.
"Everyone keeps talking about confidence, but they know they can play well," he said.
"We maybe didn't play as well as we could on the ball, which could be down to fatigue. But I don't think they lack confidence. Tonight's point will give us more confidence."
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