DALLAS — Jude Bellingham walked off the field at AT&T Stadium with “Hey Jude” blaring over the speakers and 60,000 England fans singing along. He waved. He hugged teammates. He looked like a guy who knew he’d just made a point.
This was supposed to be Harry Kane’s night. Two goals tied him with Gary Lineker for most World Cup goals by an England player. But the story that’ll stick is Bellingham’s. The guy who heard his own manager question whether he should even be on the plane. The guy who read a Daily Mail headline saying England should leave him home. The guy who has spent 18 months under a microscope that nobody else on this team has had to deal with.
“It’s good to put some of the noise aside and just show my country and my teammates how committed I am,” Bellingham said after England’s 4-2 win over Croatia. “I’ve got a bit of a chip on my shoulder, haven’t I? And you play best when you’re like that.”
The Tuchel dilemma
Thomas Tuchel spent months stewing over this decision. Bellingham or Morgan Rogers at the No. 10 spot. Rogers was brilliant in September when England beat Serbia 5-0. Bellingham was home recovering from shoulder surgery. Tuchel even left him out of the next camp, then made that weird comment about Bellingham’s “repulsive” behavior on the field — which he later blamed on his mom and a language slip.
Tuchel loved the “brotherhood” he built in those camps without Bellingham. He talked about players doing warm-downs together after matches they didn’t even play in. The question was obvious: Could a personality as big as Bellingham’s fit into that without messing it up?
Even when Bellingham made the World Cup squad, Tuchel wasn’t handing him the job. Asked why he started Bellingham over Rogers, the manager said it was “really close” and basically called it a coin flip. Not exactly a vote of confidence.
Then he went out and proved it
Bellingham lost the ball in the buildup to Croatia’s first goal. That’s the kind of moment critics remember. But the second half was a different story. England dominated possession in a way that has historically been their weakness in tournament conditions — summer heat, pressure ratcheting up, capable opponent on the other side. Bellingham was the center of it all, dropping deep to receive passes, shielding the ball, driving forward.
He made three tackles, more than anyone else on the field. Full slides, the kind that got the crowd humming “Juuuuuude” and drew applause from Tuchel on the sideline.
Then came the goal. A 23-pass move ended with Bellingham ignoring options around him, holding off a defender, and sliding a finish off the far post and in. It wasn’t just the finish. It was the whole sequence — the physicality, the decision-making, the nerve.
“You can rely on Jude in these moments,” Tuchel said after the game. “He loves these pressure games. That brings out the best in him.”
A player you can’t really categorize
Bellingham is hard to define. He tackles like a defensive mid, passes like an 8, scores like a 10. His youth coach at Birmingham City gave him the No. 22 because he said the kid played all three positions at once. He’s at his fourth major tournament at 22. Steven Gerrard was 30 when he played his fourth. Frank Lampard was 36.
Maybe playing outside the Premier League has hurt his recognition in England. But nobody in an England shirt has won more duels since his debut. Nobody has won possession back more in the final third. And when Declan Rice limped off with a minor injury in the second half, Bellingham dropped deeper without being asked. He just did it.
“I don’t hold a grudge against anyone who says bad things about me,” Bellingham said. “Sometimes I do deserve it. Today, it was nice to try and show people and remind them what I’m about.”
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