New Delhi: Thousands of England hearts at the Gelsenkirchen stadium were sinking and their team was all but out of the Euro 2024 at the last 16 stage. Until Jude Bellingham’s sensational overhead kick for a 95th minute equaliser against Slovakia. Gareth Southgate’s team grabbed the lifeline to win 2-1 in extra-time, and it took a brilliant Spain to leave them runners-up for a second edition in a row.
Major international tournaments are settled by great teamwork, skill and tactical sharpness but coaches are constantly on the lookout for players capable of winning key moments. And that was as good as they come.
Having brought England back from the dead, Bellingham ran to the touchline yelling, “Who else?” and added “I’m him.” The stretched-arm goal celebration had already started building his aura, at just 20 then.
Uber-confident playing for serial winners Real Madrid, he went into that tournament in red-hot form, as Real’s top-scorer in his first La Liga season who helped them to a La Liga-Champions League double. He rubbed shoulders with stalwarts Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, earning their respect while sharing midfield duties and rapidly learning from two of the finest in the job.
However, the Gelsenkirchen celebration also saw Bellingham strike a sour note, with his gesture towards the crowd (or was it at the rival bench?) grabbing his crotch. Although he claimed it was an inside joke “with close friends,” UEFA slapped him with a €30,000 fine and a one-match ban, suspended for a year.
The “who else?” can so easily be a “why me?” aka Balotelli as the British football pundits and the media have constantly questioned if he even deserves a starting spot for the Group L matches (Croatia, Ghana and Panama) from June 18.
Does the mistrust stem from Bellingham, the policeman’s son who grew with Birmingham City, as a teenager turning the back on Premier League and finding stardom with Borussia Dortmund? The youngster praised as a “complete midfielder” by Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning captain Philipp Lahm then moved to Real Madrid – for a fixed sum of €103mn in 2023 – and among the Galacticos.
Bellingham is a generational talent, even for England teeming with top players with the potential of finally ending the trophy-less run since the 1966 World Cup. The shoulder surgery in June last year, following repeated dislocations but delayed due to the 2023-24 season and the 2024 Euro, has prevented Bellingham from touching the high notes in a Real side that struggled this season.
England manager Thomas Tuchel stoked the fire by describing Bellingham’s on-field behaviour as “repulsive” soon after he took over. It was no doubt provoked by the player’s frequent clashes with referees – at least two red cards for dissent and abusing the referee – although the German later apologised for his choice of word.
The ‘will Bellingham make the squad?’ to ‘should he start?’ debate has been somewhat shut down with Tuchel handing him the No.10 shirt. It has sent a message that he rates the 22-year-old midfielder/playmaker with a brilliant first touch, close control, physicality, a superb pivot to shake off markers, and a resolve to chase back if dispossessed. Add natural aggression of a 1.86m tall player who can score with the feet or head.
It has placed him at the top of the midfield pecking order, ahead of Morgan Rogers, Ebereche Eze and Elliot Anderson. It may not be enough to quieten the coordinated criticism in England, whether he deserves to get ahead of the in-form Rogers.
England have suffered for not grabbing those moments. Like in Qatar 2022 where their late pressure on France, up 2-1, told and England earned a late penalty and a golden chance to equalise. But skipper Harry Kane, taking on his Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris, cracked under pressure and failed to score.
Tuchel, brought in to deliver the World Cup, knows he needs men of steel to get near the big target. But he has sent Bellingham the message that it is the team that matters, after the player demonstrated his unhappiness on being substituted late in the November friendly against Albania, to send on Rogers.
A player who his Real boss Carlo Ancelotti compared to Brazil’s Kaka, and who pulls on the No.5 shirt worn by his idol Zinedine Zidane, can own this World Cup by delivering a classy show. It will also build on his market value (transfermarkt.com puts it at 140mn euros) and build a brand that includes his own YouTube and ‘JB5’ app.
But hot-headed behaviour can drag England down, depriving them of the full value of teaming up with Kane. Tuchel would hope it is the young leader who rises, the one with whom he can have comfortable conversations in his native German.
