Jude Bellingham sets the standard England must quickly reach | OneFootball

For the racists and the pig-ignorant, Jude Bellingham is making himself damn hard to scapegoat.

The worst of England watchers, though, tend find a way so when they do, and the poison pens come for the Real Madrid star, as they inevitably will should the Three Lions fail short in their pursuit of another star, let the rest of us remind them Bellingham was almost the single standout through a shaky but ultimately successful Group L campaign.

Even while England were showing an abject lack of attacking quality while trying for an hour to break down the group’s whipping boys Panama, Bellingham raised the standard off the floor.

How daft now the debate over whether he should even start in this England team? Morgan Rogers is a very fine talent but Bellingham, time and again, has been the rescue act and difference-maker.

Thomas Tuchel played both in New Jersey, Declan Rice’s injury offering the opportunity to get another forward into an England attack that looked so stodgy while being shut out by Ghana.

For at least 45 minutes, though, Panama were posed few more problems than the Ghanaians.

Tuchel’s assistant Anthony Barry put it down to a lack of “synchronicity” at the break. Sure, that was one of a few things missing.

Primarily, though, it was a more simple lack of individual quality and care. Already-eliminated Panama being prepared to leave the edge of their own box meant England found their attackers in better spaces than Ghana allowed, but from good positions, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka failed to offer satisfactory service.

Bellingham was able to escape the Meadowlands swamp around Rogers and Harry Kane by starting from deeper alongside Elliot Anderson. The freedom gave Bellingham the platform to put on an all-action display, even if it too often left Anderson alone to be bypassed by Panama on the counter-attack.

For that reason, we won’t see this selection again in this tournament. If Panama can quite readily gain access to England’s still-suspect defence, we shudder to think of the damage better sides might do.

The emphasis here, though, was always going to be on the attack and England needed Bellingham to pierce a stubborn back five.

After half-time, in open play, Rashford and Kane got their clearest sights of goal yet but the finishes lacked the necessary precision.  The dread around this being One Of Those Nights was growing around the hour mark, just as Saka’s number was going up.

The Arsenal winger, yet to convince anyone of his fitness, swung in one last corner – actually, not his best delivery. But Bellingham swung a telescopic leg while wrestling a Panamanian to quieten – partially at least – the dissent growing around what was becoming a concerning performance.

The sense was always if England could get one, others would follow. Which it did, inside five minutes, with Bellingham again the instigator.

Running in behind – easier, evidently, when not starting on the defensive line – the Man of the Match squared up a defender in the left channel before going inside, then out, to deliver a perfectly flighted delivery, the like of which Kane has been starved of for more than three halves.

In the area Bellingham assisted, Tuchel must be worried. Anthony Gordon was rotten as a starter in the first two games and remained one of only two attackers to play no minutes tonight. Rashford was more direct, but showed similar failings by only taking the inside route.

Bellingham showed both how to go on the outside while delivering sublime service with the weaker foot.

With a goal and assist, Bellingham’s job was done and so was England’s. The Three Lions, though, have to raise themselves closer to their talisman’s level rather than rely on him to keep bailing them out when the tougher tests come.