Gareth Southgate’s Faith Rewarded by Jude Bellingham’s Last-Gasp HeroicsGareth Southgate’s Faith Rewarded by Jude Bellingham’s Last-Gasp Heroics England manager Gareth Southgate remained optimistic even as the clock ticked down on their World Cup knockout match. He still believed they could find a way to win, despite their struggles. And in the 94th minute, their faith was rewarded. Jude Bellingham, a rising star in English football, produced a stunning bicycle kick to level the score. It was a goal that not only kept England’s World Cup hopes alive but also marked a historic moment for the national team. Bellingham’s intervention was a testament to his unwavering self-belief and a stark contrast to the mindset of previous England teams. He is a player who creates his own reality, a winner who refuses to accept defeat. Southgate had considered substituting Bellingham but ultimately decided against it, a decision that proved to be the right one. Bellingham’s willpower and determination were crucial in helping England overcome a difficult match. Despite Bellingham’s heroics, England still has some shortcomings. Their attack lacks cohesion, and there are still gaps that can be exploited by their opponents. Southgate will need to address these weaknesses ahead of their next match against Switzerland. However, Bellingham’s late goal has infused the team with renewed energy and confidence. It is a sign of strength that the team was able to find a way to win even when they were not playing well. Bellingham’s performance against Iran highlights his importance to the team. He is a player who can make the difference in big moments, and his leadership and influence will be invaluable as England continues its World Cup journey. With three games remaining in the tournament, Bellingham’s goal could be the catalyst that propels England to glory. The question now is whether the team can maintain this momentum and overcome the challenges that lie ahead.
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Gareth Southgate still believed. As the clock ticked into the 94th minute and it looked as if England were still going ahead, the manager apparently wasn’t thinking about what he was going to say. He was still thinking about how they could save it, what could be done.
“I was confident the whole time that we would score the goal. I didn’t think it would be this late. I wasn’t ready to go home and the players clearly felt the same way.”
One player certainly wasn’t, and there’s an argument that he thinks differently to any previous England player. Jude Bellingham has now given the national team a moment they’ve never had before. There’s never been a save like it.
There has never been a knockout goal in the last minute – or later – that actually kept England in a tournament. The closest was Gary Lineker’s penalty against Cameroon in the 1990 World Cup quarter-final, but that was in the 83rd minute. It wasn’t as necessary as this.
Southgate admitted he had sometimes thought about taking out Bellingham or Harry Kane, but it was just a flash in the pan.
“Harry and Jude, physically, with 15 minutes to go you look at them and think: do we need to renew those positions? Maybe that can make a difference… but you know they’re capable of the kind of things they did. That’s why you stay with those players.”
Those “sorts of things” don’t quite cover what Bellingham did, mind you. The line is that this is unscriptable, but it’s actually the opposite. A bicycle kick to save a campaign is old-fashioned Roy of the Rovers stuff, which in the movies often elicits eye-rolls because it’s so hackneyed. When it happens in real life, of course, it’s the exact opposite. It’s exciting and barely believable.
This is what is really different about Bellingham, but it is even more important to the tournament than his intervention in this match. If Southgate was a believer, Bellingham is a fanatic – especially of himself.
This is a player who creates his own reality. His mindset is described by those around the camp as unlike anything England have ever had. There is sheer willpower.
It was a thought that led many in football over the past year to argue that this could finally be the most important final detail. Even though England have had so much talent for almost a decade now, they haven’t really had this kind of winner.
The players had had too many close calls. There has always been a certain doubt, which can manifest itself at moments like this. It would have been so easy to imagine previous English teams simply letting this game fizzle out. The team was bickering on the pitch.
Bellingham was instead seen as someone who could simply pull them over the line. Much has changed since such discussions, but they feel all the more relevant now.
We have direct evidence of what so many have been saying for a long time. Bellingham delivered. Of course, the actual reality of his actions should not be overlooked either.
Jude Bellingham provided a moment of magic as England struggled to qualify for the quarter-finals (Bradley Collyer/PA wire)
Bellingham was far from perfect. The fact that Southgate even considered a change is testament to that. There were still periods where he tried to do too much, or went to the wrong areas, even when he slowed the game down. It’s still not quite right between himself and Kane, or the rest of the attack. It still doesn’t work, as evidenced by the way Southgate changed half of it, including the dynamic.
That’s something the manager needs to think about ahead of Switzerland, who appear poised to take advantage of such shortcomings. There are still so many gaps that can be further exploited.
This also applies to late goals. They can energize and replenish a team, but they cannot reorganize them. Such climaxes can illustrate shortcomings as well as strengths.
That is not the case with individual players. Such influence at such times is only a sign of strength.
Bellingham has this in spades, something he has continued from his sensational first season at Real Madrid.
It’s another important reality to take into account based on that performance. Bellingham was indeed not perfect, but he still provided the perfect intervention. He didn’t feel any doubt about what had happened before. Instead, he made England do something they had never done before.
The question now is, only three games away from glory, whether this also applies to the European Championship as a whole.
