It is amazing thinking about the time before the 2026 World Cup when the English media was still rife with stories about how Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham should be left at home. Aside from Bellingham being one of the best players in the world, the most laughable aspect of those takes is the short term amensia it takes to forget his game winning bicycle kick and overall heroism at the 2024 European Championships for England.
Bellingham was tremendous for England during the group stages, but where he has really set himself apart and reminded the world of his quality, particularly those in the English media who were slagging him off, is in the thick of the World Cup knockout stages.
In less than 100 seconds, Bellingham had a brace against Mexico to help England win a match 3-2 at the Azteca in which they were being outplayed. Jude was wonderful on the ball, irresistible in transition, and elite in his own box defensively, including saving a goal.
The world is now wise to Jude Bellingham
He then followed that up with another record to match Diego Armando Maradona, building off a brace at the Azteca with a second consecutive brace in England's 2-1 win over Norway. In both cases, without Jude Bellingham, England would not have won.
Bellingham was nearly the top scorer of La Liga in 2023/24 when he first joined Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund. His instincts in the box, anticipation, work rate, effort to get in the box to make those plays, and finishing have made him as lethal as some of the top strikers in Europe at scoring when he is put in positiosn on the pitch by the manager where can feasibly make those runs; he is putting Frank Lampard to shame.
The narrative that Bellingham is overrated, selfish, and hurting England by starting because he does not help the other players has been proven emphatically false. If people were not already paying attention, they sure are now after four goals against Norway and Mexico in two one goal games in the knockouts, joining Maradona and Pele as players with back to back World Cup knockout braces.
Bellingham, as people are now finding out since they did not already, is a natural born winner. He is willing to take on the responsibility to take over games and win them by any means necessary. Scoring gets the headlines but is not the only thing he does; Bellingham also wins games through defense, hard work, and pushing the ball up the pitch. He is a true Madridista and building his case already as a legend of the game - and now the world agrees 100 percent.
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