Jude Bellingham Reflects on England's Euro 2024 Journey

Jude Bellingham doesn’t bother dressing it up. England reached the Euro 2024 final, but inside the camp, he says, something was broken.

Speaking from the team’s World Cup base in the United States, the Real Madrid midfielder painted a picture that jars with the official story of a near-miss in Germany. The football was flat, the mood was off, and a squad tipped to win the tournament never truly felt like a united force.

“At the Euros I think we got a few things wrong off the pitch, I don’t feel the group connected as well as it could have for a number of reasons,” Bellingham admitted. England were installed among the favourites. They played like anything but.

“We weren’t playing well, which doesn’t help, so even when we were winning, we didn’t get the feeling that we were as happy as we should be.”

A final reached, a connection missing

Gareth Southgate’s side staggered their way to the final in Germany, where Spain finally punished them. The run looked heroic on paper. On the pitch, and in the dressing room, it felt different.

England needed Bellingham’s last-gasp overhead kick against Slovakia just to force extra time in the last 16. They squeezed past Switzerland on penalties in the quarter-finals. They then leaned on another late goal to edge the Netherlands in the semi-finals.

These were the kind of nights that normally define tournaments. For Bellingham, the memory is more complicated.

He knows his acrobatic equaliser against Slovakia will live on as one of England’s great tournament moments. He also knows what it felt like in that instant.

“I still remember how I was feeling at the time. It always makes me feel a bit uncomfortable because it was such a bad situation,” he said. “We weren't playing well.”

As he stood over that chance in Gelsenkirchen, his mind went back to the tournaments he watched as a boy, when England fell apart against opposition they were expected to beat.

“I remember as a kid watching World Cups and Euros where we crashed out against teams we shouldn’t have gone out to and I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I’m about to be a part of one of those moments’. It shakes up the whole of English football.”

The overhead kick spared England that fate. It didn’t fix what he felt was missing behind the scenes.

Tuchel’s ‘brotherhood’ and a reset

Now comes a reset under Thomas Tuchel. The new manager has spoken openly about building a “brotherhood” inside the squad as he chases the biggest prize of all this summer.

It is no coincidence that Bellingham’s reflections land at the same time. The contrast is deliberate. Where Euro 2024 felt disjointed, Tuchel wants a group that lives and breathes together, not just one that travels and trains under the same badge.

Bellingham’s words underline why that message matters. Talent took England to the brink two years ago. He is clear that togetherness did not.

A shootout for the No 10

On the pitch, his own place is anything but guaranteed. Bellingham is locked in what appears to be a straight contest with Morgan Rogers for the No 10 role in England’s World Cup opener against Croatia on Wednesday.

It is a fascinating duel, not least because of the history between them. The pair grew up in the same area of the West Midlands, played junior football together and have remained close.

Bellingham has just delivered a statement performance, producing a masterful display in the final warm-up win over Costa Rica to strengthen his claim for the shirt. Even so, he knows Tuchel is weighing his options.

“The manager has made it very clear in a lot of the times where he has spoken that we are playing for the same position,” Bellingham said.

There is competition, but no bitterness.

Brothers, not rivals

If Tuchel wants a brotherhood, he already has a prototype in Bellingham and Rogers.

“As a person, he is a top guy, he can get along with anyone, can have conversations with anyone,” Bellingham said of Rogers. “He can be a bit loud. We have debates that turn into arguments a lot. But we get on like brothers, to be fair.”

That brotherly edge now carries into selection. Both know what is at stake, both know they may have to watch the other start.

“I know that has eased up a bit more now that he sees me playing more positions and Morgs playing more positions, but I honestly have no ill feelings when he is playing and I’m not playing.”

The words matter. England have the scars of a fractured campaign fresh in the memory and a manager determined not to repeat it. Bellingham has already lived through a tournament where the football never quite matched the talent or the expectation.

Now he stands at the heart of a new project, fighting for his place, demanding something different from the group around him. The overhead kick in Germany saved a campaign. The question now is whether a stronger bond can win a World Cup.