Atlanta’s John Cross writes that this will go down as Harry Kane’s greatest moment in England history.
And his stunning winning goal will go down as one of the best goals in England’s World Cup history. Kane has scored 84 goals for England. It was definitely his best and most important.
The brilliance of the goal, the pressure and the nearness of England’s worst-ever defeat to the Democratic Republic of Congo made it clear.
Then there’s Jude Bellingham, who has been England’s best player by an absolute country mile at this World Cup.
Bellingham has been incredible in three of the last four games and is a clear man of the match, with one of his few strong performances against the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
These two will go down as the heroes of this World Cup and are undoubtedly the reason why England can survive in this tournament.
And as for the rest…
It’s rare for an English team to get through their groups, get through to the finals, and have so many problems.
For manager Thomas Tuchel, it is a real worry for England’s team to face the co-hosts in such difficult conditions, both in terms of expectations and crowd, ahead of their trip to Mexico City.
If they win in Mexico, it will go down as one of the greatest achievements in British sporting history. Altitude, crowds, and duty are not the only reasons.
To be honest, England are well below their best. why? Well, most of the players look exhausted or injured after a tough season.
But there are also problems across the pitch. Jordan Pickford was away. He should have stopped the DRC goal, but his distribution was poor. Perhaps his reign as the undisputed No. 1 is finally in jeopardy.
Spence struggled for England against the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Image: Getty Images)
Tuchel had an absolute aversion to right-backs. Reece James is an injury-prone player, but Tuchel still picked him – and lo and behold, he’s injured. Tino Libramento returned home before the tournament started.
One can only imagine what Trent Alexander-Arnold thought of Jed Spence’s performance against the Democratic Republic of Congo. You can’t stick to him. He was struggling in a struggling team and should not have played in the World Cup.
John Stones is clearly not at the level required – he’s barely played all season – because Mark Guehi and Ezri Konsa are playing and it’s as if they’ve never met.
That doesn’t make sense. They didn’t concede a goal in the preliminaries. Now they look wide open. Nico O’Reilly’s performance has dropped significantly.
Declan Rice looks broken. After playing so well together, Rice and Elliott Anderson are too similar. When Rice moved to right-back, Anderson picked up his game.
Despite trying hard, Noni Madueke failed to achieve results. He provided no defensive cover. Marcus Rashford was so poor that England fans gave him the stick against the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Anthony Gordon was miserable against Panama and was taken off. He then played well only as a substitute against the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bukayo Saka is in poor health and is unlikely to be able to start.
Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney had little chance. Dan Byrne is the mascot. The team looks unbalanced and unprepared. In the end, they won against the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But if they play like that against Mexico, they’re going to get stuck.
Tuchel has an incredible record in knockout football, which is perhaps why England managed to get through against the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But if they had left, his position would undoubtedly have been threatened. It was one of England’s worst ever defeats, their biggest World Cup humiliation, and the manager hired to get them over the line would have fallen at the first hurdle.
It was really close. England need to step up. It’s now or never. That said, if they win in Mexico City, they may gain confidence to go further.
But for now, this World Cup will remain memorable for both players. two heroes. Harry and Jude.
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