Jude Bellingham

All the goals from the race for the 2026 World Cup golden boot as Kylian Mbappe leads the way from Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland.

Jude Bellingham becomes the first Englishman to score seven goals at a single World Cup with a late strike against France.

Here are some of the best goals of the tournament so far as we await Sunday’s final, which could produce yet another moment of magic worthy of this list.

<p>After the team’s third-placed finish, we rate the 24 squad members who made an appearance at the tournament</p><p><strong>Jordan Pickford</strong> Could he have done better with Enzo Fernández’s equaliser for Argentina? Jude Bellingham certainly thought so. But the man who has made more World Cup finals appearances than any other Englishman made some crucial saves, including a brilliant stop from Nicolas González in the semi-final. <strong>7</strong></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/19/england-2026-world-cup-squad-player-by-player-ratings">Continue reading...</a>

<p>England’s coach said ball possession is not in the team’s DNA – it’s an opinion that should disqualify him from the job</p><p>How we talked. On late-night news shows, disembodied heads above a rolling yellow banner. On planes and trains, at bus stops and flower shops and kids’ birthday parties, trying desperately to connect the ennui of the now with the vividness of the later, trying on some level to anticipate the feelings, the blood surge, the heart rush. At the sinks in the office toilets, <em>jerthinktheylldoit</em>, <em>theyactuallymighty’know</em>, shake-shake, and your devastating analysis of the Rice-Anderson-Mainoo triple pivot gets lost in the noise of the hand-dryer.</p><p>Two years of this. Countless millions sunk on tickets, hotels, Ubers, shirts, pizzas, flags, the hours spent on Google Maps trying to locate somewhere to eat after 11pm in Riga, the endless psychodrama over Jude Bellingham and whether he should have been left at home or not (turns out, not). How we bled

Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham were named among the substitutes as England boss Thomas Tuchel raised eyebrows with his selection for the World Cup third-place play-off against France. The back-to-back European Championship finalists are playing for bronze in the Miami heat just three days on from the heartbreaking late semi-final collapse to Argentina in Atlanta.

<p>Brilliant buildup play has often withered but control and flawless execution overcame France’s more variable chaos</p><p>When the World Cup came to North America, with its final held in the planet’s biggest media market, the tournament was bound to fixate on stars.</p><p>Fox’s coverage certainly enables that bias. Every game is billed like a boxing bout between two über-talented footballers rather than 22 players figuring things out across 90 minutes. One semi-final has been distilled down to MESSI v KANE (or MESSI v BELLINGHAM, depending on the broadcaster). The other leaned heavily on hope that Lamine Yamal’s hamstring would finally be at 100% after his April injury. MBAPPÉ v 600 PASSES PER GAME isn’t so snappy.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/15/spain-game-plan-france-fifa-world-cup-semi-final">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Thomas Tuchel’s message was that it was time for England to thrive at the business end of the World Cup; the most exciting part. His players had to release the handbrake and go for it. They must not have any regrets against a Norway team that most of England expected them to beat. English arrogance? Or cold, hard realism?</p><p>Happily for Tuchel, he had a player in Jude Bellingham who took him at his word. Every one of them. Bellingham had shone previously at this tournament but he moved to another level here when it mattered the most.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/12/norway-england-world-cup-quarter-final-match-report">Continue reading...</a>