Jude Bellingham and Azteca adversity prove England can bring football home | OneFootball

The English media went all weird as soon as England’s long-awaited World Cup last-16 clash with Mexico at the Estadio Azteca was confirmed, going for runs and walks around the stadium to see how professional athletes would cope with the incredibly high altitude.

As it turned out, the altitude was not a problem.

It certainly wasn’t for Jude Bellingham, who became one with it on Sunday morning. Altitude Schmaltitude. Frauditude. Altijude.

He took the game by the scruff of the neck, standing tall and using all of his experience (at 23 years old) to help England get over the line in the Mexican capital.

Bellingham is built for these moments as someone who has already become a success at the biggest club in the world.

There is a certain weight that comes with the England shirt, but nothing in world football compares to the pressure of succeeding at Real Madrid. You do not survive there – especially as a big-money signing – without an elite mentality, the kind that equips you for literally anything on a football pitch.

Bellingham’s influence cannot be understated and, amid all of the chaos, it feels like a good time to remind everyone there were genuine calls for him to be benched in favour of Morgan Rogers.

Rogers and Bellingham ultimately shared the pitch in second-half stoppage time as England held on to a 3-2 lead in a quite remarkable World Cup match.

During those frantic closing stages, as Mexico piled on the pressure, another player who proved his worth was Jordan Pickford, coming for crosses, catching, claiming, punching and doing everything in his power to deny those in green.

Pickford has come under criticism during this World Cup, but his place has surely never been in any real doubt. We’d like to think that debate ends after Sunday’s incredible 3-2 victory, a win that sends England into the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup, where Erling Haaland and Norway await.

England will be physically and mentally shattered after more than 100 gruelling minutes. Miami beckons, and recovering from Sunday’s match might prove almost as difficult as the match itself.

And what a f***ing match it was. Mexico 2 England 3 should go down as the game of the tournament. The talking points are endless. The praise is endless.

Bellingham was our standout, but players from substitutes Dan Burn, John Stones and Djed Spence to Declan Rice – who was booked in the second minute and somehow battled through an immense pain barrier – put in monumental performances.

England will feel aggrieved by some of the officiating and may even believe it was 12 versus 10 for parts of the second half. But Jarell Quansah’s red card was the correct decision, and Harry Kane did foul his man for Mexico’s penalty.

If anything, everything going against England only seemed to strengthen them.

There was so much emphasis before kick-off on surviving the opening 20 minutes. The assumption was that England simply had to weather the storm – after an actual storm delayed kick-off – and then settle into the contest.

Instead, the ‘first quarter’ belonged to them.

But when the game resumed, Mexico took control, yet it was England who struck first. Bellingham’s opener in the 36th minute came against the run of play, and less than two minutes later he had another.

England going 2-0 up in the first half was never part of the script. Bellingham’s quality reminded us all that there is no such thing as a script in football.

Everything happens for a reason and the manner of this victory gives England more of the feel of tournament winners than ever.

Coming through an all-out war at the Azteca with 10 men for most of the second half gives the impression – from a neutral point of view, by the way – that this team can survive just about anything.

Wayne Rooney said afterwards that the belief England will take from this result will be huge, and he is absolutely right.

Recovering is now the priority because the Three Lions face a completely different task in the next round, both in terms of the conditions and the opposition, though nothing is guaranteed at this World Cup.

Norway present an entirely different challenge in Miami, but England will arrive believing they can overcome it. After surviving the Azteca, surviving Erling Haaland suddenly feels a little less intimidating. If this squad needed one result to convince themselves they are genuine World Cup contenders, this was it.

Football still isn’t home, but England have never looked more capable of bringing it there.