Bellingham Keeping England Alive
England have yet to hit their stride at the
World Cup but keep getting it done. Harry Kane scored twice in a 4-2 win over Croatia before an unlucky 0-0 draw against Ghana.
Jude Bellingham opened the scoring against Panama with Kane wrapping up a routine 2-0 win. The knockout rounds have been a real battle, falling behind against DR Congo before two late goals to Kane secured a 2-1 victory.
Bellingham has come to the fore in England's previous two wins, scoring the opening two goals against Mexico. Jarell Quansah’s 54th minute red card made it tense, but Kane’s penalty gave England some breathing room and they held on to secure a courageous 3-2 win at the Azteca.
Thomas Tuchel’s side were below their best against Norway but more heroics from Bellingham got them out of jail. He equalised on the stroke of half-time and bagged an added time goal to seal a 2-1 victory.
The manager
thought his side could have performed better but praised the result: "We made life very difficult for ourselves. The result is fantastic but I'm not happy with the performance. I'm impressed with the effort, team spirit and belief to overcome adversity.
"But I am also a football coach and I think we can play better. We had a lot of momentum swings for both teams. We made life difficult in the way we played, sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough."
England Team News & Predicted Line Up
Jordan Henderson is recovering from a broken arm and Jarell Quansah serves his suspension suffered against Mexico.
Ezri Konsa and Reece James compete to start at right-back. Noni Madueke is likely to be replaced by Bukayo Saka on the right wing in
the England line-up.
Declan Rice was ill before the clash against Norway and was taken off at half-time.
Tuchel confirmed he had spent three days in bed before the match but he is expected to make a full recovery and start against Argentina.
ness - but BBC Sport reported on Monday there was optimism his condition had improved enough for him to take his place in the team on Wednesday.
England (4-2-3-1): Jordan Pickford; Ezri Konsa, John Stones, Marc Guéhi, Nico O’Reilly; Declan Rice, Elliot Anderson; Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon; Harry Kane