Who else? How Bellingham became indispensable again
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- Jude Bellingham has scored 6 goals at the World Cup, including both in England's 2-1 quarter-final win over Norway, and has won 4 player-of-the-match awards in 6 matches
- England are one win from their first men's World Cup final since 1966, with a semi-final on Wednesday against either Switzerland or reigning champions Argentina
- Birmingham City retired Bellingham's No. 22 shirt after his £20.7m move to Borussia Dortmund in 2020, having broken Trevor Francis's 49-year-old record as their youngest-ever player at 16 years and 38 days in August 2019
- Thomas Tuchel left Bellingham out of his October squad despite the midfielder being named England's player of the year, and said in June the midfielder had a fight on his hands to start because he had '14 or 15 potential starters' in his squad
- Tuchel apologized for saying some of Bellingham's on-field behaviour was 'a bit repulsive,' a remark he attributed to his mother's view
- At Euro 2024 Bellingham scored a stoppage-time overhead kick against Slovakia and popularized the 'who else?' celebration, but has since struck a humbler tone, telling media he'd rather assist than score
- Bellingham, 23, made his senior England debut under Gareth Southgate in November 2020 and has now scored 10 international goals, starting with his headed opener in a 6-2 win over Iran at the 2022 World Cup
Why it matters: Bellingham's six World Cup goals have put England within one match of their first men's final since 1966, completing a turnaround from being left out of Tuchel's squad as recently as October and from being told in June he was not guaranteed a starting place.
