Jude Bellingham: Who else! We take a look at the growing legend of our proud son of the Black Country
It will be at least a few more days, hopefully a fortnight, before the full significance of Jude Bellingham’s Slovakia wonder strike becomes clear.
For now, it stands as an act of salvation, a moment of near divine intervention which saved England’s Euro 2024 bacon and Gareth Southgate’s tenure from a most ignominious end.
A mere 90 seconds or so remained inside Gelsenkirchen’s AufSchalke Arena on Sunday evening and England appeared out of ideas and out of time, not that Southgate’s men appeared to have too many of the former in the first place.
Then Kyle Walker hurled a throw into the box, Marc Guehi rose to flick it on and…you saw what happened next. One action of supreme athleticism and in the blink of an eye the mood transformed.
“Who else?!” roared Jude Bellingham in celebration. Who else, indeed. No two words better sum up the supreme confidence of a player who looked destined for the biggest stage from the moment he first started kicking a ball around the fields at Hagley Primary school.
Now another chapter has been added to the growing legend of this proud son of the Black Country.
Even though you know it, there still feels an element of surprise when you write his age. Bellingham only turned 21 on Saturday, but already it feels like he has been on the big stage for years.
The past 12 months in particular have been fairytale stuff, that £115 million move to Real Madrid, the Champions League winners medal, those two stoppage-time goals to beat Barcelona. Sunday evening in Gelsenkirchen was the kind of moment for which Bellingham has long felt made. So too, in time, might be the accolade of the finest footballer this region has ever produced. He really has the potential to be that good.
This summer, admittedly, was beginning to look like the first career setback. It still might turn out that way. Having just about survived Slovakia, England will be expected to beat Switzerland. They can’t keep relying on flashes of brilliance, no matter how brilliant.
Yet at least now, you are comforted by the knowledge Bellingham is the player you thought he was.
Long expected to be one of the big players of the tournament, Bellingham had been quiet since scoring early in the opening win over Serbia. So too had England. For 94 minutes against Slovakia, the pattern continued.
Perhaps somewhere, in a parallel universe, Southgate opted to remove both Bellingham and Harry Kane, who would score the winner in the first minute of extra-time.
“They looked out on their feet 15 minutes from the end,” the Three Lions boss later confided. “You’re looking at them and thinking: ‘Should we be refreshing that position?'”
Southgate’s instinct was to keep them on: “You know they are capable of doing the things they did.”
The reward was Bellingham delivering one of the great England goals, already as iconic as David Platt’s volley against Belgium at Italia ‘90 and Paul Gascoigne’s thumping Wembley strike against Scotland at Euro ‘96.
For millions of supporters, the hope is Bellingham’s goal can inject similar momentum as those two previous examples to the current campaign.
On Sunday, it was sufficient to see England past Slovakia yet Switzerland will provide a sterner test. England will need to be better if Bellingham’s goal is to do any more than merely delay their exit. At least now, thanks to his brilliance, they still have a chance to write the ending they desire.