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Demien and Phillips were still standing in the tunnel with the recovery schedules in their hands when an England media officer reached them.

"Demien, we need you back at the interview boards — Player of the Match obligations aren’t finished," she said.

Phillips nodded once and headed the other way, already waved off by a physio calling him toward treatment.

"Go be famous," Phillips said over his shoulder, no edge in it at all.

"Go get your calf looked at," Demien said back.

Neither one mentioned Sunday.

The interview position had been set up against a Wembley sponsor board, three England crests repeating in a diagonal pattern behind where he’d stand.

A camera operator adjusted the tripod and waited for a red light that hadn’t come on yet.

An FA media staffer stood just outside the frame with a clipboard, mouthing the run of questions to the broadcaster holding the handheld microphone.

Crowd noise still carried in from the tunnel mouth behind him, thinned out now, mostly stewards and departing supporters.

Demien held the Player of the Match award against his hip, the trophy’s edge cool through his shirt.

The red light came on.

"Demien, two goals on your first England start — take us through the first one."

He smiled before he even answered, the memory of the strike still fresh enough to make it easy. "Baccus picked up his yellow and after that Australia started protecting him — Irvine had to step across earlier to cover for him," he said. "Once we started moving the ball side to side, that gap kept opening a little more each time. I just had to be patient enough to wait for it."

"And the second — a completely different kind of goal."

"Different job, yeah," Demien said. "Once Kalvin came on, we had another midfielder sitting in, which meant I didn’t have to stay back as much — I could make that run beyond their line. James’s pass was perfect, he put it exactly where I needed it."

"The scoreline reads comfortably — 3-0. Was it that straightforward out there?"

"No, not at all," Demien said, shaking his head. "Australia caused us real problems, especially with the second balls and the crosses — their wingbacks kept getting forward and we had to keep resetting. The score doesn’t really tell you how organized they were tonight."

"Two goals, England win — does that mean you’re expecting to start against Italy on Tuesday?"

His expression settled, more careful now than it had been a question ago.

"Friday’s job was Australia," he said. "Who plays Tuesday is the manager’s decision, not mine — there are experienced midfielders in this squad who’ve earned that shirt too. But yeah, I’d obviously like to play. I’m not going to pretend I wouldn’t."

"Last one — you’re nineteen, two goals at Wembley, strong form for United, and a Ballon d’Or nomination this month. Is all of that difficult to take in?"

"The nomination means a lot to me," Demien said. "But October 30th isn’t the next game — Italy is. That’s what I’m thinking about."

The red light went off.

The FA staffer thanked him and pointed him back toward the tunnel.

Watkins and Maddison were already coming the other way, finished with their own media work, both still in their kit with towels around their necks.

Watkins spotted the trophy first. "Unbelievable," he said. "I score the winner and suddenly one goal’s worth nothing the second a midfielder gets two."

"You hit the post twice in the first half," Demien said. "That probably didn’t help your case."

"Ryan saved those, not me missing," Watkins said.

Maddison reached over and tapped the trophy. "One of those goals doesn’t happen without my pass, you know. Technically that’s a shared award."

Demien pulled it further away from him. "Technically it’s got my name on it."

"Technically I’m going to remember this next time you need service," Maddison said.

Phillips was a few yards off with a physio’s hands working one calf, and his eyes went to the trophy for a second, then to Demien, then back to his own leg without a word.

Southgate gathered the group once the media players had returned, standing near the dressing room door rather than inside it.

"Good result," he said. "Three-nil looks comfortable on a screen — it wasn’t. Australia made us work for every part of that, especially after we made the changes. I want that understood before anyone gets carried away with the scoreline."

A few heads nodded.

"Recovery starts Saturday morning," Southgate said. "After that, everything is Italy."

He didn’t say another word about who would play.

Saturday, October 14th, and Demien woke with his ankle tender where Baccus had caught him and his legs carrying the flat heaviness of a season that hadn’t given him a real off-week in months.

Nothing sharp.

Nothing that stopped him from swinging his legs off the bed and standing without hesitation.

The recovery room at England’s base ran a quiet, practiced rhythm — stationary bikes lined along one wall, treatment beds along another, compression sleeves hissing on two players’ legs near the hydration station, performance staff moving between tablets checking wellness scores pulled from Wembley.

Demien got on a bike beside Phillips, both pedaling at a controlled, easy cadence while a physio waited nearby with a folder.

The physio pressed two fingers into the bruised spot on his ankle first.

Demien’s face tightened.

The physio rotated the joint slowly through its full range.

No give, no instability, no sharp intake of breath this time.

"You’re cleared for Sunday’s full session," the physio said. "Keep the extra running light today."

Demien nodded and kept pedaling.

Several screens mounted along the recovery room wall ran silent sports coverage, subtitles scrolling under muted commentary.

ENGLAND 3-0 AUSTRALIA

WALTER BRACE AT WEMBLEY

ITALY NEXT — ONE POINT CAN SEND ENGLAND TO EURO 2024

PHILLIPS OR WALTER FOR TUESDAY?

One panel ran a midfield debate beneath a split-screen of both players.

"Phillips gives Rice license to step forward and gives Bellingham real freedom ahead of him — that positional discipline matters against a side like Italy," one analyst said.

"But Walter receives under pressure, progresses the ball vertically, and recovers defensively at a level Phillips simply can’t match physically," another answered. "That makes England much harder to trap centrally."

"One brace against Australia shouldn’t decide this on its own," the third said. "Italy will ask completely different questions than Australia did."

Demien heard his own name repeated twice and kept pedaling, eyes mostly on the readout in front of him rather than the screen.

Phillips noticed.

"You suddenly too important to watch yourself score?" Phillips asked.

"I’ve seen both goals enough times already," Demien said. "Watched them back last night."

"How many times is enough?"

Demien didn’t answer right away.

Phillips laughed. "Yeah. That’s what I thought."

The coverage cycled forward, an awards ticker sliding beneath a studio panel discussing the Ballon d’Or field ahead of the October 30th ceremony in Paris.

"Walter’s part of that conversation too," one presenter said. "Nineteen years old, coming off a Wembley brace, already nominated — his name’s going to keep coming up between now and the ceremony."

Nobody in the room turned to watch it longer than the segment ran.

Bellingham walked in partway through it, dropping his bag by an open bike. "There he is," he said, nodding at the screen. "Reckon we should stop giving France Football so much footage, the two of us."

"Speak for yourself," Demien said. "I only made the nominee list. You’re still working on it."

Bellingham glanced at the Wembley highlights replaying in the corner of the screen. "Two goals against Australia won’t save you Tuesday if you keep drifting into Dec’s space like you did in training Thursday."

"You spent half of Tuesday’s session standing next to Harry doing nothing," Demien said.

Rice, cycling nearby, didn’t look up. "Sounds like neither of you fixed it, then."

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