It was intended to be the ideal opportunity to take a lovely snapshot to send back to the family.
Instead, it became what could have been a tournament-ending accident for England winger Anthony Gordon during the European Championship.
Gordon arrived at an England news conference on Friday with a large, nasty-looking graze on his chin and cuts on his nose, fingers, and arms from falling off his bike during some downtime with other England team members on Wednesday.
“(It was) meant to be a recovery bike ride,” the Newcastle player said, “and I was going down the hill and tried to take a picture for my family and before I knew it I was face first into the floor. ItĀ“s only a few cuts, itĀ“s not anything painful.”
Gordon appears to have escaped any lasting injuries but he said it “stung” when he received treatment on his return to the teamĀ“s camp at Blankenhain in Germany.
“Electric is a lot faster than normal bikes,” he said. “The front brake is on the left-hand side and I tried to press the right one to slow down and it didnĀ“t slow down – it came to a full stop and IĀ“ve gone 10 feet in the air, chin-first.”
Gordon made his Euro 2004 debut on Tuesday as a late substitution in a 0-0 draw against Slovenia.
England faces Slovakia in the round of 16 on Sunday.
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