Jude Bellingham: England's World Cup Driving Force

Questions followed Jude Bellingham across the Atlantic. Not about his talent, but about his place. His status. His right to be the heartbeat of Thomas Tuchel’s squad heading into another major international tournament, given how his North American adventure had unfolded.

Morgan Rogers was flying and snapping at his heels for that No.10 role. Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Morgan Gibbs-White were left at home, each omission another weight thrown onto Bellingham’s shoulders. A Real Madrid “Galactico” with a target on his back.

He has treated that doubt with contempt.

Fresh from his “who else” celebration at Euro 2024, Bellingham has walked into the 2026 World Cup and picked up exactly where he left off. He opened his World Cup account by dragging England back in front during a 4-2 win over Croatia, a breathless game that could easily have slipped away. Instead, it became the launchpad for a campaign that already feels different.

Continued Excellence

The pattern has continued. Against Panama, in a tight, scrappy contest, it was Bellingham who broke the deadlock, forcing his way into the game and then onto the scoresheet. The kind of night when big reputations can fade into the background. He refused to.

Then came Mexico in the last 16, at altitude, inside a roaring Azteca Stadium that has swallowed up better players than him. The pressure should have suffocated England. It energised Bellingham. A quickfire brace, the defining contribution in one of the Three Lions’ most memorable World Cup knockout wins. In a venue steeped in history, he carved out his own.

He is 23 and already living in the same conversation as Paul Gascoigne and Wayne Rooney – not by hype, but by habit. Moments find him. Or maybe he just goes and takes them.

Des Walker's Perspective

Former England defender Des Walker, speaking to GOAL in association with Wiz Slots, did not hesitate when asked where Bellingham sits in that lineage of match-winners. “He comes to the party, Jude, in the important games, in the important moments,” Walker said. “That's what Rooney does, that's what Gazza does, that's what all great players do.”

Walker went further, homing in on the physical edge that underpins the flair. “He's a supreme athlete. He is the best athlete, probably in the world, in terms of the amount of running he can do and the power that he has from the first minute to the last minute. And more than anything, when Jude goes in the box, he goes in for one reason. He doesn't go in to make up the numbers, he goes in to get the goal.”

Impact on the Team

That, in Walker’s eyes, changes everything for England. “I think that's a fantastic thing to have in your team, because the onus isn't just on Harry [Kane]. Jude will, in every game he plays, go to score a goal. And with his power, his athleticism and his will to win, it puts him in that category of the best in the world.”

This is not just about output, though. It is about personality. The strut. The edge. The refusal to shrink when the lights are at their brightest.

Pressed on whether Bellingham actively enjoys being thrust into that glare, Walker did not blink. “Definitely. He is the main man. He revels in trying to be the main man. I think that's what inspires him. He wants to be the show-off, the big head.”

There is a line there, of course, and plenty have crossed it. Bellingham, Walker argues, lives on it and thrives. “That's all good being the big head and the show-off, but you've got to be big-headed and show-off on the pitch. He does that, and that's his strength. I think when you try to curtail that, we call it arrogance in sport, you need arrogance. You try to curtail that from him, you're taking away half his game.”

Walker has seen the other side: the talkers who go quiet when it matters. “Because there's plenty of players, we've all seen loads of players that are off the park, they've got the biggest mouth in the world, they're cocky, they walk around like they're the best footballers in the world. Come Saturday afternoon, when you're playing the real tough teams, the big teams, sometimes they go missing. Jude doesn't go missing.”

He hasn’t gone missing at this World Cup. He has gone hunting.

Sixty years of hurt still hangs over England, every major tournament framed by that wait for a second star on the shirt. If that story is finally to change this summer, Bellingham will be at the centre of it, not lurking on the fringes.

Harry Kane, the record goalscorer and captain, remains the established talisman. Others have stepped up in bursts. But it is the Birmingham-born midfielder, cut from the same daring cloth as Rooney and Gascoigne, who has seized the role of driving force and turned unshakable self-belief into England’s most dangerous weapon.

The question now is not whether he belongs. It’s how far he can drag a nation that has spent decades wondering who would be the one to end the wait.