Jude Bellingham showed his maturity as a 19-year-old after Harry Kane blazed his late penalty over the bar against France. The Tottenham forward had the chance to equalise after Mason Mount was pushed in the box by Theo Hernandez, but missed the target.
Kane had already put England level earlier on in the half with another penalty when he stepped up and went face-to-face against his Spurs teammate and captain, Hugo Lloris. Having controlled the ball and the majority of the match, the loss was hard to take for the Three Lions, who were looking to set up a semi-final against underdogs Morocco.
The tournament may well be the last World Cup of Kane's career, as he will be 33 by the time USA, Mexico and Canada 2026 comes around, but the large part of this squad should in theory be coming to their peak at that time.
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Bellingham, the only teenager in the 26-man group chosen by Gareth Southgate, has been one of the biggest stars, and demonstrated why he's so highly rated. As well as marauding from midfield, it was him that rushed quickly to console Kane after his shock miss.
The England captain was as surprised as everyone else to see the ball fly into the stands and put his head down immediately to try and forget what had happened, but Bellingham ran over to him from the edge of the box to pick him up again with five minutes of normal time still to go.
The Dortmund man put his arm around Kane and offered some words in the heat of the moment like a captain would to his own soldiers, but in this instance it was a role reversal. Bellingham has already captained his club in Germany and has been sounded out as a future England skipper too.
Rio Ferdinand said earlier this year: "This kid, in the way he carries and presents himself, could be captain now." And the former Manchester United defender may well be proved right.
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