Birthday boy Bellingham is now England’s key player

Jude Bellingham said it plainly when interviewed after inspiring England to a 2-0 win over Panama in New Jersey, and into the knockout stages, where they will face Congo. Three games into this World Cup it also reads less like a preference and more like a statement of fact. The pre-tournament uncertainty around who would play as ten has gone. In Thomas Tuchel’s system, Bellingham has made himself the point around which everything else turns.