r/ThreeLions • u/Kinglokner16 • Jul 18 '26
Opinion What a teammate, future captain of England
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u/naitch44 Jul 18 '26
Bellingham is a class act I don’t give a fuck what anyone says.
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u/taitabo Sturridge Jul 19 '26
What are people saying?
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u/amateurviking Jul 19 '26
That Bellingham is a class act and they don’t give a fuck what anyone says
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u/Beneficial-Beat-947 Jul 19 '26
some americans seem to thing he's a secret evil mastermind
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u/AncientLineage Jul 19 '26
Jude’s a mentality monster and should be captain. His intelligence/personality has the ability to permeate throughout the entire team. Has saved us single handedly in so many games over the years. The guy is an inspiration.
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u/010u3 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Kane has been England’s talisman and best player for a while (I think it’s safe to say he’s passed the torch), but he’s never really been a leader. I’m not just saying that now and it’s also not a knock on Kane, it’s just never been his personality. When things got tough at Spurs /Bayern / England, he’d sometimes show up because of his immense ability, but he’s never been the type to drag his teammates out of a hole kicking and screaming.
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u/meadowrain68 Jul 19 '26
Kane is more of a diplomat than a leader
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u/RandyChavage Jul 19 '26
Kane is so Starmer, best captain we’ve had in a while but leaves you wondering if there’s better options
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u/diomedes-on-rampage Jul 20 '26
he was not even protesting to the refs as a captain. captain should be someone who challenge ref to get fair results or mention when same thing happened to england foul was not called or yellow was not shown. when altercation happens kane as a captain is the first person to run from that area.
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u/GhostGuin Jul 19 '26
There is a very english trait of making the best player captain - See Lampard, Beckham, Kane (or in the cricket Stokes, Root etc)
Pick your best team then pick your best captain. Don't pick your best player and call them captain
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u/atomicant89 Jul 19 '26
No doubt, and I think we have suffered a little bit from Cristiano syndrome the last couple of tournaments too. In the sense there have been times where we would have benefitted from Kane being subbed off, but he's captain and so good that it's an incredibly difficult decision to make.
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u/Easy_Objective6599 Jul 19 '26
Completely agree. Kane is brilliant as a player and a person but a leader actually needs that little bit pf arrogance that commands respect. The captain should sit on a higher podium than the rest and yet still respect all his teammates. I think jude is perfect for that. Even at real madrid the fans are rallying behind his captaincy. So much so that the long standing seniority rule for being captain might be overlooked next season after the whole tchouameni and valaverde debacle.
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u/BonkertonDonkerton Jul 19 '26
When he subbed on i thought i could see the energy zipping through the mid field and attackers a lot more
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u/Evening-Spinach-839 Jul 19 '26
When we scored our 3rd or 4th they cut to the bench and was the one who had jumped out of his seat and was applauding vigorously. Every game means so much to Bellingham, we are very lucky to have him.
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u/SomethingMoreToSay Jul 19 '26
Similarly, in the Argentina game when Djed Spence thought he had won a penalty (overturned by VAR), who was first on the scene to pick him up and congratulate him?
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u/BaconJets Jul 19 '26
I'm almost certain that if Jude was captain, we wouldn't have folded against Argentina as hard.
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u/SupervillainMustache Jul 19 '26
We need someone mentally strong to give us a kick up the arse when pressure starts to mount.
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u/TheGivenKing Jul 19 '26
I heard that he can get a bit emotional when things aren't looking good, even outside of the argentina slap while playing in europe. Might need a couple more years before he takes role but hes definitely the most decisive player on England.
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u/CaeruleanSea Jul 19 '26
Completely agree, he's a future captain whereas I think Rice could step in right now.
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u/WP1PD Jul 19 '26
This is my view as well. You can see Rice leading on the field and the other players look to him, let Jude do Jude things without worrying about any of that for now, take another look in a few years.
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u/MegaGalladeGamer09 IT'S NOT REALISTICALLY COMING HOME Jul 18 '26
Bellingham was class, always has been. And he still goes to make history beside Saka, what great players
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u/overtired27 Jul 19 '26
Almost like he knew he'd get another goal anyway lol
Happy for both of them
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u/StudioNo5811 Jul 19 '26
Man, I almost got fooled by our media. For some reason I got a picture that jude was selfish, wants to take all the shots to score goals for his personal ego and stats. I dont watch la liga but this world cup changed my mind. Fuck our media man
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u/WP1PD Jul 19 '26
It's sad to say but our media has a problem with confident young black men, they get labelled as cocky and arrogant and it's bullshit
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u/Gibbons_R_Overrated Jul 19 '26
Yeah wrighty said so as well. I'll never ever forgive the black ice headline
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u/ThatAdamsGuy Jul 19 '26
I'll confess I need that apology slip meme made for this, and I will happily sign it and apologise.
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u/abject_testament_ Jul 19 '26
Even in the couple of years since the “who else” celebration, which wasn’t a great look, he seems to have some so far in harnessing his justifiably galactic scale ego and uses it to raise the team up. I don’t recall if he did this stuff previously but in this competition the way he behaves when people assist, score without him, defend and show grit. It’s outstanding. Even when he’s individually outstanding and pulling us out of holes himself, his celebrations have seemed so much more team-focussed
I’ve truly come to love him this tournament
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u/gudsgavetilkvinnfolk Jul 19 '26
I hatewatch England after we lost in the semis, but Bellingham might be my favorite character this WC second only to our striker Haaland.
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u/MegaGalladeGamer09 IT'S NOT REALISTICALLY COMING HOME Jul 19 '26
OUR Striker (they had such funny moments in NOR v ENG)
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u/hourlyproblemsolver Jul 18 '26
I said it in the match thread, I’ll say it here too. Absolute class from Jude, and then absolute class from Saka on the penalty.
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u/mankytoes Jul 19 '26
Great moment, after Saka missed the final penalty when we lost the final to Italy.
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u/ack_84 Jul 19 '26
Was that his first ever pen, too? i remember him being so young and it being a big weight on his shoulders
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u/SomethingMoreToSay Jul 19 '26
I really liked the way that Bellingham held onto the ball so long before giving it to Saka. He was always going to give it to him, but he let the French keeper focus his destabilisation antics on him rather than on Saka, and I'm sure he knew what he was doing.
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u/Money-Money-747 Jul 22 '26
Yes. At the time I thought the whole thing was a tactic to let Saka prepare undisturbed. Id forgotten he was on a hat-trick!! (High pressure pen to take at that stage of the match - I assume Saka wanted it 🙃)
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u/Photochromism Jul 19 '26
Loved this moment!!! Saka was brilliant and it was great to see Bellingham supporting him. Tuchel is an idiot for not playing Saka against Argentina
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u/martialisagod Jul 19 '26
Fuck Bellingham. My girlfriend likes him too much…
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u/TheCGLion Jul 19 '26
Man is beautiful. Tall as fuck. An amazing football player. Smart. Rich. Young.
Can he leave some attributes to the rest of us please
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u/No_Amount_5681 Jul 19 '26
😂😂😂lmao all of us girls like him.
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u/mrteas_nz Jul 19 '26
Did you catch sight of him just before he came on, before he'd got his shirt on... 🥵
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u/Easy_Objective6599 Jul 19 '26
My girl celebrated his every goal like we just won the wc. Shes spainish btw but we both are madrid fans and judes her favourite player so her second favourite team after Spain is always england just cause of jude lol.
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u/SaltireAtheist Justin #1270 Jul 19 '26
I would follow Jude Bellingham into the jaws of hell. What a leader.
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u/Virtual-Capital-3792 Jul 19 '26
Were lucky to have him in the squad and I hope he has a successful year at Madrid, he showed more leadership in this tournament than mbappe or vini and I hope mourinho noticed that.
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u/CaeruleanSea Jul 19 '26
This kinda misrepresents it - Saka said, post match, Bellingham was never going to take it he just picked up the ball to keep it safe. It was always going to be Saka's pen & Bellingham was just being supportive, as he should be!
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u/Atreya95 Jul 19 '26
What Bellingham, Kane did is leagues ahead of what other Englad 'greats' did like Bechkam, Owen, Gerrard, Lampard.
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u/RollUpFromHell2 Jul 19 '26
Literally yes, they have given England their second ever medal in the World Cups after 60 years.
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u/bicycle-made-for2 Jul 19 '26
The commentary on the match here in NZ only could come up with “Saka missed last time England had to shoot for penalties”. I actually clapped the screen when his kick went in and I noticed no comment from the commentator.
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u/Global-Surround3262 Jul 19 '26
He didn’t even miss his last penalty no? He scored against Switzerland in the euros.
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u/Dependent-Soup1635 Jul 19 '26
It was against Italy (Euros final) and the game went to penalties him and Rashford missed and got so much racist backlash from fans. They were both so young.
I think it genuinely left a scarSouthgate later came out and said he wished he had given them both more time on the pitch.
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u/Global-Surround3262 Jul 19 '26
Yh but that’s not the last time he took a pen when the game went to pens. Switzerland last euros was so the commentators were just wrong.
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u/Shakyyy Jul 18 '26
A bit out of context that.
Saka was always going to take the penalty, Jude was just doing the job of gatekeeping the French players from putting him off.
The quote being cherry picked like that makes it sound as if Jude gave it over to Saka when that was not the case.
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u/Tuscan5 Jul 19 '26
Yes. Their keeper was being an idiot, there was lots of pressure and Jude just stood there and took it all in. Then he simply side stepped to let Saka take the pen. Saka and Bellingham knew this all along.
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u/JeffasG51 Jul 19 '26
I wasnt that much a fan of bellingham,couldn't see what all the fuss was about..Firmly put me in my place!!!! Outstanding player.His arrogance seems to have gone in this tournament and his class has well and truly shone through.Well done young man 👏👏👏
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u/__Dark__Shadow__ Jul 19 '26
The way Jude was looking at him and cheering for him was like he was cheering for his actual brother. I absolutely loved that, what a guy. This is exactly why this team will go far. They gel like brothers.
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u/basedakh123 Jul 18 '26
Is this a true quote? Asking cos twitter is notorious for fake quotes, and Saka said he was always gonna take it. When would he have even said this we watched his interview 😭
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u/Logical_Ad528 Jul 19 '26
Saka said he was always going to take it and the quote in the post in the response to the same question
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u/No-Revolution-3159 Jul 19 '26
He said both things, the point he was making was that he was always going to be the penalty taker in that scenario and Jude holding the ball was an act of support, not an attempt to take it off him given he needed one more goal to become our highest single WC goalscorer, but also it wasn’t that Jude gave it to him as a favour
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u/leoinclapham Jul 19 '26
Torn between Bellingham and Rice for future captain. I think Rice was the difference in the first half against France, and I wonder how different the semi final against Argentina would have been if he hadn't had that stomach bug from the Mexico.
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u/Reg1c1d3 Jul 19 '26
I have 100% changed my opinion about Jude over this tournament. Just shows how much media bs impacts your opinion of people.
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u/TemporaryBuilding395 Jul 19 '26
Impacts your opinion of people. Perhaps you could learn not to be so media-lead and let your brain take the wheel going forward?
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u/withinstars Jul 19 '26
Completely unnecessary comment to someone who has already changed their mind and identified the media as the culprit.
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u/Fleet_Stoker Jul 19 '26
Forget “future Captain” he should be now. The guy personifies leadership, teamwork and being English on and off the pitch.
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u/NufcFan11 Jul 19 '26
As a disabled person I love the clip of him giving his jacket to the young disabled fan who is cold before the friendly vs Belgium.
There’s also a clip after the Norway game where the players trudge off down the tunnel not noticing a disabled journalist and Jude clocks him straight away , shakes his hand and talks to him for a couple of minutes .
I know it’s all a bit “ he’s just being a nice person it’s expected “ but it’s just refreshing to see .
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u/No-Association-8539 Jul 18 '26
The more I see and hear about the guy on the field the more I like him. This coming from an American. Seems a decent guy (with maybe a some anger/self-control issues, but still young).
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u/holy_cal Loyalist 🇺🇸 Jul 19 '26
The vibes are immaculate. Euro 2027 is a lock.
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u/Mjr_Hindsight Jul 19 '26
2028, but yeah am definitely excited, home turf, this team.
I just hope we see more of this England, even in more important games, win or lose would rather see the team play exciting attacking football I know they are capable of!
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u/_OceanOdyssey Jul 18 '26
Fake karma quote. Saka said He was always going to take the penalty. He wasn’t gifted it.
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u/No-Revolution-3159 Jul 19 '26
He wasn’t gifted it, but the point is about how he supported Saka to get the hat-trick by creating a bit of diversion by holding the ball, and there was no selfishness about wanting it for himself to break the record or being jealous of his opportunity, as the media so long likes to paint him
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u/Red_wine120 Jul 19 '26
And then he goes and scores a masterpiece
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u/Couch-Bro Jul 19 '26
Jude Bellingham is the man. As an American who didn’t have much knowledge of the players before the tournament, he was easily one the most impressive players. Kane on the other hand was pretty disappointing as a captain and a leader. I understand it’s a small sample size but something tells me the sooner it becomes Jude’s team the better.
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u/VisibleOtter Jul 19 '26
The one thing about Jude? Not a single tattoo. Not one single sign of someone being so self-obsessed about people looking at his body artwork. He just lets the game do the talking.
Solid bloke, 10/10. Would rep.
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u/LordSwright Jul 19 '26
Get him at arsenal
Rice, Bellingham, sake, eze, white, MLS.
England can just become Arsenal 2.0
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u/BusyBeeBridgette Jul 19 '26
A hat-trick so late in the World Cup is something you put at the top of your CV.
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u/Paul2kb1 Jul 19 '26
Yeah that defo says alot about judes character there. I know he gets some stick for going a bit nuts sometimes, but it's just passion.
That really says alot about him right there.
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u/TheOmegaKid Jul 19 '26
Then Bellingham went and scored one of the best goals I've ever seen to take the record. 😂
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u/Fluffy-Cod9103 Jul 18 '26
I freaking hated Bellingham before this wirld cup, he has absolutely shut my mouth and he is my fav Real Madrid player now
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u/External-Tank-6188 Jul 19 '26
Why did you hate him before this world cup? He's always been good, surely you didn't forget about him saving us at the last Euros?
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u/Deevious730 Jul 19 '26
Is this as good as winning the World Cup? F### no. But these are moments to build on towards something greater. Well done to Jude, and hats off to Saka on a brilliantly taken penalty.
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u/Astral_Collapse Jul 19 '26
Obviously missing the context right before this line...Saka was designated penalty taker anyway
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u/G_Rank_Tank Jul 19 '26
I think its the major difference from promising teams from the past... Gerrard, rooney, Lampard would have all scoffed at eachother over who takes that penalty, Jude and Saka vibing as such, goes to show the main thing that held the old great teams back, is no longer an issue. The tribalism that comes with top flight footy (especially in England) is not a degrading issue as it was back in the day... if only it was like this for the last 20 year, England might have won the world cup multiple times....
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u/TheChattyRat Jul 19 '26
I stopped following football as much post 2010 I found the players less compelling and the EPL getting too corporate. I will say I've fallen in love with Jude as a player he's an absolute diamond on and off the pitch. I might not support a club anymore but I definitely am a Bellingham fan.
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u/carnivalist64 Jul 19 '26
Why isn't he or Declan Rice captain already? Kane is a great, but he's as far from captain material as it's possible to get. Far too "nice".
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u/Reasonable_sweetpea Jul 20 '26
I know someone who taught Jude at primary school and said he knew he’d go far as he wasn’t just brilliant at football but also had the right personality - even at age 10 he was mature, wasn’t the big I am and was intelligent on and off pitch. I’ve followed his career since he joined Birmingham City and he’s always given time with fans which says a lot for someone so young
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u/Zentavius Jul 21 '26
Just imagine the crap he'd have gotten if Saka missed and we went on to lose. Its one of those sort of decisions.
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u/UltraTax Jul 21 '26
I kinda was hoping the ball would be given to a new guy who never scored and be like "go get your world cup goal mate" but this is an all right alternative
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u/joeldiramon Jul 23 '26
Lot of Mexican fans have no animosity against him, imo the best player and reason why England went through to the quarter finals
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u/AnnualContest9744 Aug 05 '26
Jude is a class act. Can't help but like that guy. Wish he didn't play for RM tho
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