Jude Bellingham dragged England through the thin air of Mexico City, then through the wet heat of Miami, and both times he scored the goals that kept his country moving forward. At 23, he now looks like a player trying to end a wait that has lasted six decades.
Some World Cups turn on one man. Diego Maradona did it for Argentina in 1986. Ronaldo did it for Brazil in Yokohama in 2002. Lionel Messi finally got his hands on the trophy with Argentina in Doha in 2022. Bellingham scored twice to beat Norway in the Miami heat, and his name now belongs in that conversation, even if he has a long way to go before he belongs in that company.
The road ahead is brutal. Messi and Argentina, fresh off a win over Switzerland, wait in Atlanta for the semi-final. Beyond that sits either Spain or a French side built around Kylian Mbappe, standing between England and a first World Cup since Sir Alf Ramsey’s team won it on 30 July 1966.
Those are steep obstacles. But every so often a player wills a tournament to bend to him, and Bellingham looks like he’s trying to do exactly that.
Bellingham matches World Cup greats
Nobody is ready to put Bellingham alongside Pele or Maradona. That comparison would be premature given what those two achieved and the legends they became. But his performances in the Azteca against Mexico, followed by his display against Norway in Miami, already stand up next to some remarkable numbers.
Bellingham is the first player to score two or more goals in consecutive knockout games at a single World Cup since Maradona managed it in 1986. He’s also the second-youngest player to do it, behind only Pele, who scored twice in consecutive knockout matches at 17 during Brazil’s title run in Sweden in 1958.
He has earned the right to wear the number 10 shirt that both of those players wore, this time in white rather than blue and white or yellow.
The numbers from the Norway game back up the eye test. Bellingham had five shots, more than any other England player on the pitch. He led the team in touches inside the opposition box with six, won more duels than anyone else with eight, and won four fouls, also a team high.
He has built a habit of scoring when England need it most. Against Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen, he leveled the score with an overhead kick in the 94th minute and 34th second, a goal that set up an extra-time win in the last 16. He has had rough stretches since then, including a spell when head coach Thomas Tuchel left him out of the squad entirely. None of that showed up at this World Cup.
After the win over Mexico, in which he scored twice in a 3-2 victory, and then the double against Norway, Bellingham could be forgiven for feeling like the man England keeps turning to when the pressure is highest. Of his 12 international goals, nine have come at major tournaments. Five have put England ahead in a match, and two have been equalizers.
Only Gary Lineker, who scored six goals during the 1986 World Cup, has more non-penalty goals in a single tournament for England, and Bellingham still has matches left to add to his total.
He has scored with his left foot, his right foot, and his head at this World Cup. The only other player at the tournament to do that is Erling Haaland. His goals have come in different ways, too: some are the instincts of a natural poacher, arriving in the right spot at the right time, and others are moments where his pace, strength and technique simply overwhelm defenders.
Bellingham chasing the greats
Reporters who have now covered seven World Cups have watched this pattern before. A player raises his level, and his team rises with him, until both match the size of the occasion.
In Japan and South Korea in 2002, Ronaldo carried the weight of his own comeback story. Four years earlier in France, he had struggled through mysterious health problems before Brazil lost the final 3-0 to the host nation in Paris. He had also battled serious injuries in between. In 2002, he scored both goals in Brazil’s 2-0 win over Germany in the final, then stood in front of reporters in Yokohama and said simply: “The agony is over.”
Messi went through his own version of that pain, losing the 2014 World Cup final to Germany in Brazil before finally winning the trophy with Argentina in Qatar, beating France on penalties after a final many still call one of the best ever played.
Bellingham hasn’t reached that stature yet, but his role for England is starting to carry that kind of weight, alongside captain Harry Kane’s.
In some ways, Bellingham is chasing his own redemption. He started for England in the Euro 2024 final, which they lost to Spain. Shoulder and hamstring injuries then interrupted his season at Real Madrid, and there was real debate over whether he would even start at this World Cup, given the form of his boyhood friend Morgan Rogers.
Tuchel let that competition play out publicly, encouraging the rivalry between the two players. When the World Cup arrived, he chose Bellingham, citing his experience in big matches and the level he can reach.
Bellingham has answered that decision with performance after performance, closing the door on anyone who questioned his place in Tuchel’s starting eleven.
If England are going to end a wait that stretches back to 1966, Bellingham will need to help them get past Argentina, then either Spain or France. Judging by the way he has played through Mexico City and Miami, few players look more ready to try.
