Embarrassing Bellingham U-turn continues as Rashford ‘behaviour’ leaves England stars ‘stunned’

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·6 Juli 2026

Embarrassing Bellingham U-turn continues as Rashford ‘behaviour’ leaves England stars ‘stunned’

Jude Bellingham was the England star on a ‘big occasion’ he shouldn’t have been invited to, while Marcus Rashford’s ‘behaviour’ is making news.

An incredible England win leaves little for Mediawatch to pick at, but there are always crumbs lying around.

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Starting with the ongoing wait for one limelight-loving journalist in particular to take his medicine.

Why you gotta be so Jude?

It is remarkable that England managed to beat Mexico at the Azteca even though a great many journalists had struggled on their Couch to 5k jogs around the stadium in the build-up to the game.

But beat them they did, sending England even deeper into this World Cup, thanks to what one intrepid writer calls their “J Force”. Because Jordan Pickford and Jude Bellingham. Don’t start. We know.

Behold this quite wonderful Freudian slip from the MailOnline regarding said journalist:

‘Daily Mail Sport’s Chief Football Reporter CRAIG HOPE was at the Estadio Azteca to give his verdict on the England players, and you can make your judgments too with our new ratings tool.’

Craig Hope has been called worse.

And Craig Hope has, as we know and have covered in painstaking length as far back as September, written far worse about a certain individual, who has in turn served an absurd amount of humble pie across the course of a World Cup he apparently shouldn’t have even been at.

No point dredging up all that nonsense again, only to continue monitoring whether Jude Bellingham has been issued a preposterously overdue apology after a frankly embarrassing U-turn in coverage.

The latest update, after two goals in an exceptional performance to drag England through against Mexico, is: nope.

Hope does have the gall to write that ‘world-class’ Bellingham ‘was England’s man for the big occasion’ and the ‘man of the match’ in the last 16. But until the Mail man owns this…

…it’s impossible to take anything he says seriously.

Will power

The big story, of course, is how Prince William might have reacted to the victory.

‘The heir to the throne, 44, posted just minutes after the Three Lions won 3-2 in front of a raucous crowd at the Azteca,’ say The Sun website, with some impeccable second-mentioning.

‘In a post to Instagram, Wills said: “Well done England!” ‘He added: “Bring on the quarter final!” with an England flag emoji. ‘The prince signed off the message with “W”, revealing he had sent the post himself.’

Maybe he’s just down with the kids and celebrating the win?

Simply one of the best

It was a historic evening at the Azteca and Daniel Marsh of the Daily Mirror website was among those left impressed:

‘Mexico would then lay siege on Jordan Pickford’s goal fuelled by the backing of their vociferous fans. But England stood firm and rode out 11 torturous minutes of additional time to record one of the most memorable victories of the Tuchel era.’

Definitely. You’d put it pretty sodding close to the Netherlands win at Euro ’96; it was one of the best England tournament performances ever.

Oh hold on, ‘one of the most memorable victories of the Tuchel era’? It does feel like it was definitely one of the best of his 15 wins, yeah. Maybe just behind the 1-0 against Andorra last June.

The Buk stops here

Alex Richards brings us ‘eight things we missed’ for the Daily Mirror website, which includes this on his ‘Saka worry’:

‘Like Rice, Saka is trying to grit it out and play through the pain. The problem is that Saka is a player who needs to be able to accelerate and change speed, who needs to use his bursts to work a yard or get away from a defender. An injured achilles only makes that much more difficult.’

Agreed. Do go on.

‘And unfortunately it’s showing. He had his say here, teeing up the opening goal after Rice sent him away from his man. But getting by his man through a change of pace himself? It’s not happening right now.’

It definitely did for the opening goal. Rice’s run was excellent and crucial but in no way was Saka ‘sent away from his man’ by the pass; he had to beat him before putting in the cross.

Still, great bit to put something specifically only you yourself missed in an opinion piece promising ‘eight things we missed’.

Rash decision

Just a gloriously awful Daily Express website headline, this one:

‘England stars stunned after Marcus Rashford move hours before Mexico World Cup clash’

Has he finally been sold? Seems quite sudden, considering there hasn’t been too much speculation over Rashford’s future.

Or has he simply embarrassed Ezri Konsa in an England rondo, spawning that dreadful headline – and these glorious few lines:

‘After belatedly shutting his legs, Konsa simply sprinted away. Despite the responses from England’s players, it appears they won’t be overly shocked by Rashford’s behaviour.’

His ‘behaviour’! He just nutmegged someone FFS.

Gotta let it Burn

‘Dan Burn reveals England ripped up game plan in unforgettable Mexico win’ – The Sun website.

The grand ‘reveal’ being that England’s game plan involved having 11 players?

Spill the Thi

‘Liverpool new-look coaching team as Thiago position confirmed’ – Liverpool Echo.

The confirmation being that Thiago won’t be part of Liverpool’s new-look coaching team. Why not go all out and just report ‘Liverpool new-look coaching team as Klopp position confirmed’?