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OK, here’s the new plan: Jude Bellingham. Is that something?
All Jude, all the time. #Jude4PM, Jude for king, Jude for emperor of the universe. It’s a surprise it’s taken us this long to get here, to expose the reality that as it was at Euro 2024, as it will be for the next decade, this is Jude Bellingham’s England, this team’s spiritual and actual core, its centre of attention and gravity. Bellingham feels ordained by something bigger than himself, a “world-class person” as Jordan Henderson once put it.
He turns 23 tomorrow and yet only five Englishmen have more major tournament goal contributions than his eight – Harry Kane, David Beckham, Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney (Kane also broke Lineker’s record for most English World Cup goals with his 11th yesterday).
Five of his eight England goals have come in major tournaments, three of those the decider in wins, another the transcendent 94th-minute equaliser against Slovakia in 2024. Panama took the time-honoured approach of booting him around the Metlife, and he still wrestled sufficient space and time to score one and assist another.
Bellingham and Kane leaping into the New Jersey night in perfect synchronicity to celebrate England’s second was quietly England’s most significant moment of this World Cup to date. This was Bellingham’s first assist for Kane since October 2023, and the first time they have combined in a major tournament. Kane has never assisted Bellingham in 42 matches together.
More than anything, given the duo have scored 41% of England’s goals since Bellingham’s debut in November 2020 (59 of 145), this is statistically improbable, almost certainly the consequence of genuine dysfunction. Against Croatia they did not pass to each other once.
This feels like a problem. You only had to sit through the Ghana match to realise it is a problem, two men both trying to save the world in their own ways and colliding in the process, instinct taking them to the same place and just ending up on top of each other.
They don’t work together well, don’t elevate each other, but their talents are so unimpeachable it largely doesn’t matter. Everything Tuchel does has to be geared towards ensuring they excel individually.
For all the moments demand attention, for the understandable focus on his penchant for summoning magic, it bears saying that this was just a truly elite midfield performance: most tackles, most fouls won, most duels won, most chances created, most successful dribbles. Bellingham did not actually play much deeper than in the first two matches, but the increased defensive responsibility helps him, a role that allows him to be everything, to explore the full range of his outrageous potential.
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He has never really been a No 10, forced there out of necessity, because he can, because he has Big 10 Energy. He doesn’t do what No 10s do. Bellingham and Elliot Anderson are not defensively-minded or positionally disciplined enough to protect an unsteady defensive line in the biggest games as a pivot. But with Declan Rice not entirely fit, this is a short-term solution, one which seemed to help Kane too.
A subplot here is that every England goal so far has been scored by players who played outside the Premier League last season – Bellingham, Kane and Marcus Rashford.
Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice look physically broken by the demands of the past season at Arsenal, by having to prop up the world. Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers have both looked concerningly short on inspiration and ideas, freed from their club strictures but unsure quite what to do with the opportunity. Bellingham doesn’t look as weighed down, as restricted, as mind-meltingly exhausted. Tuchel said he is “in a sweet spot after his injury”.
England have looked defensively vulnerable but also haven’t conceded for two and a half matches, a sign something is working. Scoring from another set piece is a reminder of what a ridiculously useful area this is for a team to excel in, a skill that wins tournaments. “We will step up,” Tuchel said post-match.
“The bigger the games get – the bigger we will get.”
Translation: Jude Bellingham will grow and morph to fill the occasion, Jude Bellingham is the plan. Major tournaments are all moments; England could feasibly win this World Cup by scoring five more goals, by five more Bellingham moments. Spain won all four of their knockout matches 1-0 in 2010. It doesn’t have to be beautiful. It doesn’t even really have to be good. Maybe it just needs to be Jude Bellingham.
Photograph by Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images