When England needed him most, their best player stepped up to the mark.
Jude Bellingham – “who else?” as he famously said after rescuing England in Euro 2024 – scored and provided an assist to steal the show once again.
It was hardly a performance to leave England’s World Cup rivals quaking in their boots but, in Bellingham, they have a world class talent who would get into any team at the tournament.
England were labouring, struggling to create a chance and that was when Bellingham broke the deadlock and then provided the cross for Harry Kane to score and break Gary Lineker’s World Cup goals record with his 11th overall.
It was enough to secure England’s place as top of Group L and now they know their path will take them to Atlanta in the first knock-out game when surely they will get better.
Thomas Tuchel admitted there was no special “recipe” when it comes to playing teams defending with a low block.
But that did not stop him trying something completely different. The England boss changed half of his outfield players with Jarell Quansah, Nico O’Reilly, Morgan Rogers, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford all coming in.
It was Rashford and Saka who were really lively in the opening stages down the flanks as they tried to open up Panama’s defence.
Rashford cut in from the left and forced Panama keeper Orlando Mosquera into a good early save. Then Saka was busy trying to make things happen.
Back at the 2018 World Cup, England smashed Panama 6-1 with five goals coming in the first half. And yet it was quickly obvious that it was not going to be that easy this time.
There were some nice interchanges as Jude Bellingham tried hard, Harry Kane dropped deep as Rogers was tidy without actually opening up Panama’s stubborn defence.
Elliot Anderson’s deep cross found Rashford racing in at the back post but he headed just over the crossbar.
Panama actually looked dangerous themselves on the break and, with desperation creeping into England’s game, they did leave themselves a bit too open to the counter attack.
It felt like this was quickly turning into quite the reality check for England because it is hard to imagine the likes of France, Spain or Argentina labouring like this against Panama.
View 2 ImagesHarry Kane celebrates after becoming England’s all-time leading World Cup goalscorer(Image: Catherine Ivill/AMA)
Tuchel must have been grateful there were no boos in the stadium at half time but you could almost hear the grumblings from back home 3,500 miles away in the MetLife Stadium.
Just imagine if this was Gareth Southgate in charge. The England fans would be baying for blood, chucking paper aeroplanes left right and centre amid the growing frustration.
This felt like Ghana all over again with England struggling for ideas, inspiration and also failing to carve out clear cut chances.
Panama were also growing in belief as Jose Luis Rodriguez seized on a mistake by Anderson and then curled a shot over the bar.
The big screen panned across to Sir David Beckham sat in the stands and how England could have done with his crossing ability.
Bellingham played in Kane and the England captain was suddenly bearing down on goal but his shot was beaten away by Mosquera. By Kane’s standards, it was a great chance.
Just when you thought it could not get any worse, Quansah signalled to the bench that he was injured and suddenly even the makeshift right back was injured.
England were struggling badly. But that is when big players step up. Saka sent over a corner, Bellingham fought for space and hooked home from close range after 62 minutes.
Five minutes later, Bellingham was at it again. His cross found Kane to head home and create another piece of history as that was his 11th World Cup goal.
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Incredibly, some people questioned whether Bellingham was worth his place not so long back. Now, he is making them eat their words.
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