Jude Bellingham gives England genuine belief - but there are so many ways it could go wrong

It’s impossible to support England for any length of time without developing the creeping sensation that everything will go horribly wrong, sooner or later. As those 30 years of hurt turned into 60, the core lesson drilled in by every near miss, every abject humiliation and every penalty shootout has been that it’s probably best not to get your hopes up.

It’s a lesson that end up being ignored every time, of course. England’s heroic rearguard action in the Estadio Azteca has given even the most wearied cynic cause for the kind of belief that the squad seems to possess in abundance – and which Jude Bellingham seems to possess in particular.

Jude Bellingham has become England’s primary source of belief – but is that enough?

Bellingham’s magnificent performance in Mexico City, capped by the two quickfire counter-attacking goals which made their remarkable victory possible, is perhaps the primary cause of the growing swell of confidence which is pervading the England set-up. The slightly shaky work we saw during the group stage and in the round of 32 feels like distant history.

“If any team has heart and belief, then it's this team,” Bellingham said after the match and after the Oasis-flavoured bonding session with the fans had come to a close. We’re starting to reach the point at which it’s exceedingly difficult not to buy in. Six decades’ worth of punishing lessons never do quite seem to sink in.

Thomas Tuchel, for his part, praised Bellingham for buying into England’s dressing room “brotherhood” – it’s all a far cry from when the head coach admitted that his mother thought Bellingham’s on-field behaviour was “repulsive” and played into a narrative that the 23-year-old was arrogant or simply not a team-player.

That narrative, which led to an amazingly widespread and misguided discussion about whether Bellingham should even be in the side, was always based on false assumptions. Bellingham may be self-assured but he has always been one of the hardest-working members of his team, whether it was England or Real Madrid. Few creative, goalscoring midfielders run themselves into the ground like Bellingham does. He may believe in himself, but he works for the collective.

That conversation about Bellingham’s credentials looks laughable now. Gary Neville’s recent comment suggesting that he has “carried” England into the quarter-finals may be a slight exaggeration given that he’s hardly been a sole contributor, but there’s little doubt that England would have struggled to get this far without him. One can argue about who the most influential player in the squad is – Harry Kane and Declan Rice can make compelling cases – but it’s Bellingham who took the Mexico match by the scruff of the neck.

While England fret about the powers of an imperiously in-form Erling Haaland, no doubt plenty of Nordic fans are clenching involuntarily at the thought of Bellingham bearing down on their defence. Much like Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi over the past two editions of the tournament, he is assuming the air of the kind of player who wins you the World Cup.

Which is wonderful for England in many ways, but also an inevitable source of just the kind of raised hopes which lead to an even more crushing fall – and as injury and illness derail preparations for the match in Miami and concerns about refereeing decisions mount, one can almost picture the ways in which things could go wrong after all.

England have belief – but there are so many ways it can all go wrong

No matter how close England have come to glory, the footballing gods have always found a way to throw their thunderbolts in the Three Lions’ direction at every major tournament since Geoff Hurst hit that hat-trick. The last 60 years have felt like karmic justice for the Russian linesman.

Fate might find its outlet through the fitness of the England squad. Right-back has already been an issue, with Tuchel forced to cycle through every halfway sensible option short of calling up Trent Alexander-Arnold, which seems to have emerged as his own personal red line. Now just about every other position is starting to feel like a problem, too.

Declan Rice has come down with illness even as he tries to play through the pain of a persistent hamstring problem. Marc Guéhi has strained his hamstring, which could cost England their best centre-back at the very moment that Erling Haaland hoves into view. Reece James was, at the time of writing, expected to be fit again, but has missed three matches already. Bukayo Saka looks visibly slowed and diminished by his Achilles injury.

England’s squad is starting to look like it’s held together by string, sticky-back plastic and wishful thinking – or, if you prefer your pint to be half full, by the raw power of their apparently indomitable self-belief. Either way, it’s easy to see how it could all fall apart with just one more twang of the wrong hamstring.

Then there are the issues with the refereeing. There is a genuine sense of injustice within the camp about the fact that Jarell Quansah has been suspended for two matches for a broadly similar offence to that committed by the United States’ Folarin Balogun – who got away with a wagged finger in his face after a timely phone call from Donald Trump – but that’s only the start of the worries about the refereeing.

A statistic which has done the rounds over the past few days showed that England have received a yellow card for every seven or so fouls they’ve committed, where every other team still in the competition has received considerably more lenient treatment – especially the Argentines. It’s pure conspiracy fuel, of course, and none of the cards that England have been shown have been especially egregious, but it strengthens the sense that everything is against the very notion of England making the final.

To win the World Cup and to banish all those years of suffering, England might have to wade through injury, illness, allegedly biased referees, FIFA themselves and, almost as an afterthought, some rather challenging opposition. It looks like an impossible task – but then again, so did surviving with 10 men against Mexico for 45 minutes, and they managed that. The football gods are against England but through Bellingham, perhaps all things are possible.

So long as he doesn’t get injured himself, of course, or pick up the booking against Norway which would rule him out of a potential semi-final. With Jude on the pitch, the possibilities feel endless. Without him? Well, that would be the biggest thunderbolt of all.