England set up a World Cup quarter-final against France with a 3-0 win over Senegal, illuminated by the prodigal Jude Bellingham.
Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka got the goals but for many England supporters, neutrals and perhaps the rest of Gareth Southgate’s squad too, this night will surely be remembered as the Bellingham game.
The midfielder has been making waves in Germany for Borussia Dortmund for the past two-and-a-half seasons but until this World Cup, Premier League-centric England fans would have only heard about his brilliance and seen brief glimpses of his quality in the Champions League or internationals.
Now, everyone is seeing just how talented he is first-hand, and this felt like a coming of age performance in an England shirt for the 19-year-old.
It’s one thing scoring against Iran and impressing against sides like the USA and Wales but it is quite another delivering in a knockout game against the African champions. And boy, how Bellingham delivered.
England’s two first-half goals were expertly finished by Henderson and Kane but both belonged just as much to Bellingham, and Henderson made that clear in his celebration by pointing to the teenager.
Collecting Kane’s pass, Bellingham drove into space down the left flank and squared for the Liverpool captain to steer home first time.
His part in Kane’s goal was even better. Bellingham beat Pathe Ciss to a loose ball and, as the pitch opened up ahead of him, accelerated away from Youssouf Sabaly; casually switching the ball from his right to left foot, he played in Phil Foden, whose cross took a slight deflection on the way to Kane.
The England captain had said he was planning to peak in the knockouts and he finally scored, with England’s 11th goal in Qatar and his 11th at major tournaments, taking him past Gary Lineker as the country’s all-time record scorer at major finals.
Until the opening goal, it had been a cagey affair, with the two best chances falling for Senegal, but Aliou Cisse’s side could not live with England when they raised the tempo, typically through Bellingham.
His ability to carry the ball and pick a pass is remarkable, while he is also more than capable of holding his own physically.
He can go forwards or backwards, and as a box-to-box midfielder, he really does have everything.
His emergence is another key step forward for Southgate’s England, whose midfield has significantly evolved with every major tournament, from Henderson and Jesse Lingard to Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips, and now the best of the lot in Bellingham.
Bellingham is the first teenager to start a knockout game for England since Wayne Rooney at Euro 2004, and like the former captain he is a generational talent.
It is a measure of England’s quality that another young star also had a case to be man of the match, with Foden involved in all three goals and fully justifying his selection ahead of Marcus Rashford, while Kane was also outstanding in the second half.
England made the game completely safe when Foden bust down the left and crossed to Saka to deftly finish his third of the tournament, fully vindicating Southgate’s biggest selection decision of the night.
Bellingham was replaced with 15 minutes to play, earning a hug from Southgate, to save him for France and Kylian Mbappe back at Al Bayt Stadium on Saturday night.
The holders and particularly the Paris Saint-Germain forward will be a far greater test for England, of course, but Southgate’s side have their own boy wonder in Bellingham.
