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Anthony Gordon have supported newcastle teammates Nick Pope And jacob murphy To follow him into the England team.
The 24-year-old, who starred in his club’s 3-0 Champions League win over Benfica on Tuesday, is dreaming of a trip to the World Cup finals next summer after forcing his way into Thomas Tuchel’s team and scoring in the 5-0 qualifier win in Latvia earlier this month.
Before the Benfica game, goalkeeper Pope spoke about his hopes of returning to the England team, and his performance against the Primeira Liga side, which included a notable assist for the first of Harvey Barnes’ two goals – a 65-yard throw – would not have gone unnoticed.
Asked about his teammate, Gordon said: “He’s in the best form of his life. That throw was excellent – it’s crazy how he can throw that far.”
“In the first half he really showed his quality. He made two great saves to keep the score level.
“We’re great friends, so I hope he’ll be on the plane with me. It’ll be great to be there with him and he’s a top, top guy, so he deserves everything he gets.”
Pope’s delivery to Barnes, which came 19 minutes from time and the Magpies leading only 1–0, has been compared to an NFL quarterback.
NFL fan Gordon said: “It was Tom Brady… I’ve never seen anything like that live. I didn’t know he had it in his locker. I thought, ‘Where’s he going?’, then Barneys got on him.”
If Pope helped seal a vital victory, it was Murphy who played the assist for the 32nd-minute opener, receiving Bruno Guimarães’ pass before getting forward and producing a pin-point cross for Gordon to score.
Much has been made of the service provided by Murphy during his time at St James’ Park in the wake of Alexander Isaac’s early struggles for form at Liverpool.
Gordon said: “To be honest, he’s so underrated as a player. He can do everything any winger can do in the Premier League. I don’t know why he’s so underrated.”
“I love playing with him. I just know he’s going to make that ball every time, so I can take the gamble and put my head down and run because I know it’s going to be there so I can tap it.”
Asked about Murphy’s England prospects, Gordon said: “He’s got everything you need to be at that level. He just needs good form, goals and assists for the manager to focus on him.
“I’m sure he would have been in the news last year because he was one of the best, in-form wingers in the league, so he’ll just have to keep doing what he’s doing and the manager will notice.”