Jude Bellingham was the star of the show as England battled back to eliminate Norway in the World Cup quarter-finals, and the Real Madrid midfielder has shared the advice his mum Denise gave him
Jude Bellingham has praised mum Denise for providing the inspirational team talk that propelled England into the World Cup semi-finals.
Bellingham, now level with Harry Kane on six goals at this World Cup, netted twice as the Three Lions fought back from a deficit to knock out Norway in Miami. The 23-year-old Real Madrid star also managed to steer clear of another booking that would have ruled him out of the semi-final.
He revealed: “My mum’s been telling me all week to watch my language, watch my tackles, watch my face, watch my emotions. So yeah, I think she drilled it into me all week about being careful of that yellow card.
“And to be honest, when you play the right way, and credit to the referee, he was class, he still let you communicate in a respectful way. A lot of referees don’t let you do that”, reports the Mirror.
“So I think when I get the balance right, and there’s a referee who’s willing to listen, it makes it a lot easier. And in the end, it was just a really well competed game of football, and luckily I got through it.”
Bellingham, now one of the leading contenders for the World Cup Golden Ball and possibly the Golden Boot, confesses his scorching World Cup displays have exceeded his expectations.
He added: “Probably a bit beyond, to be honest. I’m a confident boy, but I think I don’t think you go to bed at night dreaming about games like that. So I’ve said before in the other interviews that I’ve done, it’s nice to have an impact and to help my team.
“But my God, the effort of those lads in there. I’m so proud of how they keep battling, regardless of what situations we find ourselves in. They can be really proud, and I know they are. And I’ll make sure they feel that as well.”
Following his double strike, Bellingham seemed to disagree with Thomas Tuchel’s candid evaluation of England’s display.
Now that the dust has settled, there’s a sense that Tuchel’s post-match remarks were rather misinterpreted and relayed to Bellingham without adequate context.
When questioned whether Tuchel’s observations suggested there remains more potential from England, the attacking midfielder responded: “Maybe, but maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, [Martin] Odegaard, [Antonio] Nusa, [Alexander] Sorloth. That’s not an easy team to play against.
“So, I think we’ve tried to create a positive environment. We should continue that going into the final four. I can’t speak highly enough of the lads. You’re not going to win every game, popping the ball and making 1,000 passes. Sometimes you have to win dirty, and we’ve done that again tonight.”
Indeed, Bellingham believes the triumph was more challenging to secure than defeating Mexico, stating: “No, definitely. The game split into loads of different kind of facets.
“You know, some of it’s technical, tactical, and for me, the biggest one is psychological and how you can manage setbacks, how you can manage adversity. And this team showed yet again that they can do it, and that’s a that’s a really valuable skill and trait to have going into the stage of the tournament.”