"I remember thinking, I'm about to be a part of one of those moments" — Jude Bellingham, describing the Slovakia game at Euro 2024. That's not pride. That's a player who nearly watched England crash out in the last 16, barely holding it together against opponents they should have comfortably beaten.
Speaking from England's World Cup camp in the United States, Bellingham gave the clearest account yet of why a squad that reached the final still felt like a failure. "At the Euros I think we got a few things wrong off the pitch. I don't feel the group connected as well as it could have for a number of reasons," he said. He didn't name those reasons, but the results told the story: a last-minute overhead kick to rescue extra time against Slovakia, penalties to beat Switzerland, another late goal to sneak past the Netherlands. Spain won the final comfortably. Nobody was surprised.
Tuchel's 'brotherhood' is the direct response to that dysfunction
New manager Thomas Tuchel has made squad unity a stated priority, using the word "brotherhood" to describe what he wants to build before the World Cup this summer. Bellingham's comments confirm that's not just PR language — it's a direct fix for something that was genuinely broken in Germany.
Whether that cultural shift translates into better football on the pitch is the question England's odds will hinge on. A squad that plays loose and disjointed in the group stage, even while winning, is a squad that gets punished the moment it meets a team with genuine quality. They know that now.
Bellingham vs Rogers: a fight worth watching
On a more immediate level, Bellingham is battling Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers for the number 10 shirt ahead of England's World Cup opener against Croatia on Wednesday. Tuchel has framed it as a straight shootout, though Bellingham says the tension between the two is limited — they grew up together in the West Midlands and played junior football side by side.
"He can be a bit loud. We have debates that turn into arguments a lot. But we get on like brothers," Bellingham said.
His case got a significant boost in the final warm-up win over Costa Rica, where he was the standout player on the pitch. Rogers offers something different — raw Premier League form, directness, less weight of expectation — but Bellingham's ceiling at his best remains higher than anyone else in that squad.
"I honestly have no ill feelings when he is playing and I'm not playing," he added. A generous line. But he's also just made clear he intends to be playing.
