England concluded their first match at Euro 2024, relying on a 13th minute goal from Bellingham to open the tournament with a 1-0 win over Serbia at the Feltins Arena.
The good news is that England have kept five consecutive Euro group stage clean sheets, becoming the first team to go five consecutive Euro group stage matches without conceding a goal.
The bad news is that England, which has the highest price in this year's Euros, took an early lead and locked the score at 1-0, with only 3 shots on goal and 1 corner kick in the whole match.
Luckily England has Bellingham.
In the 13th minute of the match, Kyle Walker sent a direct ball from the right, Bukayo Saka played a downward pass and the ball arced beautifully to Bellingham, who killed the ball in front of the goal and headed it into the goal.
The goal was the only one of the match and was England's only shot on target in the first half.
In 86 minutes of playing time, Bellingham was very versatile, running a distance of 11.1 kilometers, not only scored a power header, but also 70 passes, 67 successful, pass success rate of 96%, 4 long passes all successful, 14 ground confrontation won 8 times, and 3 steals, 1 interception, and 2 clearances.
At least in the first half Bellingham was in complete control of the game, although his influence waned in the second half, but this also had a lot to do with England as a whole being caught in a passive situation, with Bellingham's possession of the ball significantly reduced.
If any player had an amazing season this past season, Bellingham would certainly be one of them.
In his first season with Real Madrid, the 20 year old Bellingham played a superb season, he has almost no weaknesses, his shooting and passing abilities are world class and he can understand the game very well.
In the game, Bellingham doesn't go for his own goals, he makes his decisions more with the goal of the team as a whole, and he's willing to pass the ball to Vinicius.
But when the right opportunity presents itself, the same powerful breakout ability allows Bellingham to charge into the box and smash opponents with a sharp and well-timed finish.
In 42 matches, Bellingham scored 23 goals and 13 assists, including 28 appearances in La Liga, 19 goals and 6 assists, and was Real Madrid's top scorer. He was elected La Liga's Player of the Season, and was a key player in Real Madrid's La Liga, Spanish Supercup, and UEFA Champions League victories.
Whether at Real Madrid or in the England national team, whenever Bellingham steps on the pitch, he is full of confidence and his goal is to dominate the whole field.
If England can win this year's European Cup, Bellingham is likely to collect the first Golden Ball award of his career.
Bellingham, who turns 21 in 13 days, has already played 30 games for England and has already represented England at Euro 2020, World Cup 2022 and Euro 2024, making him the first European player to play in three major national team tournaments before the age of 21.
The goal scored against Serbia was Bellingham's fourth for the England representative team, and made him the third youngest English player to score at the Euros, with only Owen at Euro 2000 and Wayne Rooney at Euro 2004 younger than him.
There have been accusations that Bellingham was overly expressive and too sticky with the ball against Serbia, but the opposite was true, as Bellingham's possession in the first half was actually a result of England's overall performance on the pitch.
In the entire first half Kane was in a state of disappearance, only two touches of the ball, which is not entirely a problem of Kane's state, Kane attracted the opponent's defense, creating more space for Bellingham to move around and create opportunities for Bellingham.
In this regard, England is very similar to the last European Cup when Kane also sacrificed himself to cover England's offense and help England reach the final.
In this case, it's only natural that Bellingham has more of the ball because he is the heart of England's attack.
To put it mildly, it wasn't a great game, with the mighty England ending the match with only a narrow victory.
But again, it was a typical England game, Southgate didn't care about the process, he only worked for the result, and for the result alone, Southgate succeeded.
As England's "only hope for the village", Bellingham didn't let Southgate down, and I'm personally very optimistic about this kind of "utilitarian soccer" in England, and England has the hope to make it to the end.
If England doesn't make it to the end, it's not Bellingham's fault.
