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There is a particular kind of honesty that only arrives once the tournament is over and the squad hotel has been vacated. Jude Bellingham has now offered a delayed version of it, two years on from a European Championship final that England lost to Spain, admitting from inside Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup camp in Kansas City that things were not right in Gareth Southgate’s dressing room in Germany.
“We didn’t connect as well as we could have,” Bellingham told reporters, according to the Guardian. The phrasing is careful — diplomatic, even — but the implication is plain enough. A squad that reached a major final while producing football that drew more groans than applause was not, it turns out, a particularly cohesive unit off the pitch either.
It is worth noting the context in which Bellingham is speaking. Tuchel has made considerable noise about building a “brotherhood” ahead of this summer’s World Cup, and Bellingham’s comments read, at least in part, as an endorsement of that shift in culture. Whether that framing is entirely spontaneous or subtly coordinated with the media operation around England’s camp is another matter. Either way, the substance is interesting.
What Actually Went Wrong at Euro 2024?
England’s route to the Berlin final was, to put it charitably, functional. They scraped past Slovakia in the last sixteen thanks to Bellingham’s overhead kick in the 95th minute — a goal that would have defined a tournament under different circumstances. As the Guardian notes, Bellingham himself feels the shine was taken off that moment by the wider context of the campaign. That is a telling detail. A player reflecting that even his finest individual contribution felt diminished by the collective atmosphere suggests the problems ran deeper than tactics or form.
Southgate’s 4-2-3-1 — and its various reluctant evolutions during the tournament — was widely criticised for failing to get the best from Bellingham, Phil Foden, and Harry Kane simultaneously. The xG numbers across England’s group stage were quietly damning: they were creating chances, but not at a rate that suggested a team playing with genuine fluency or intent. The system felt like a compromise between protecting what they had and expressing what they might be capable of, and it satisfied neither aim particularly well.
But Bellingham’s comments suggest the tactical limitations were compounded by something more human. A squad that does not connect off the pitch tends to revert to individual instincts under pressure, and England’s tendency to look disjointed in transition — particularly in the semi-final against the Netherlands — was consistent with a group that had not fully bought into a shared identity.
Tuchel’s Brotherhood and Whether It Is More Than a Buzzword
Tuchel is not the first England manager to invoke togetherness as a tactical principle. The language of “unity” and “belief” has been a fixture of England press conferences since at least 2018. What distinguishes Tuchel’s approach, at least in theory, is that he has a track record of actually constructing high-functioning squads at club level — his Champions League-winning Chelsea side in 2021 was notable for its collective defensive organisation and the willingness of attacking players to accept defined, sometimes restrictive roles.
Whether that translates to an international environment, where preparation time is compressed and player relationships are largely inherited rather than built, remains the central question. Tuchel has roughly four weeks with this squad before competitive football begins. That is not long to manufacture brotherhood, however earnestly you pursue it.
Gary Neville, speaking to Sky Sports, offered a characteristically blunt structural observation: England’s team is built around Harry Kane, who he considers the only genuine world-class player in the squad. It is a provocative framing — Bellingham’s admirers would object strenuously — but it contains a serious point. If Kane is the fixed point around whom everything else is organised, then the system’s ceiling is determined largely by how well he is supplied and how fit he remains. A squad built around one player is not, almost by definition, a squad built on collective identity.
Ivan Toney, Rio Ngumoha, and the Fringe Questions
Away from the philosophical discussions about squad culture, England’s behind-closed-doors friendly in Miami produced some concrete information. According to the Independent, Ivan Toney scored a hat-trick, including a goal from range that will have done his squad standing no harm whatsoever. Toney has spent much of the past eighteen months on the periphery of England squads despite consistent club form, and a hat-trick in a pre-tournament friendly — even a closed-doors one — is the sort of thing that forces selection conversations.
More intriguing is the reported involvement of Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha, who got on the scoresheet despite not being named in the official 26-man squad. The Independent’s report does not fully clarify his status — whether he was a training guest, a standby player, or something else — and that ambiguity is worth flagging. It is unclear at this stage whether Ngumoha’s inclusion represents a genuine selection consideration or simply a logistical arrangement for the friendly. Tuchel has not publicly addressed it.
What the friendly does suggest, taken alongside Bellingham’s comments, is that Tuchel is actively trying to create competition and energy within the group rather than simply confirming a settled hierarchy. Whether that produces better football than Euro 2024 is a different matter.
The Bigger Picture Heading into the Tournament
England go into the World Cup 2026 with genuine reasons for optimism and equally genuine reasons for scepticism. The optimism: Bellingham at his best is among the most complete midfielders in world football; Kane, for all Neville’s caveats, remains a lethal finisher with elite movement; and Tuchel’s tactical flexibility — he has operated convincingly in 3-4-3, 4-3-3, and 4-2-3-1 across his career — gives England options that Southgate rarely exercised.
The scepticism: the Premier League season has been long and physically demanding for the core of this squad; the “brotherhood” narrative has been tried before without producing transformative results; and the structural question Neville raises — about whether England have enough quality beyond Kane to trouble the best teams — does not disappear simply because Tuchel says the right things in press conferences.
Bellingham’s admission about Euro 2024 is valuable precisely because it is rare. England players do not often speak candidly about internal dysfunction while still active in the squad. The fact that he is doing so now, framed explicitly as a contrast with the current setup, suggests either genuine conviction that things have changed or a very deliberate piece of public messaging. Possibly both. The expanded 48-team format means England will have more matches to find their rhythm, but the knockout rounds will arrive eventually, and that is where Euro 2024’s lack of cohesion ultimately cost them.
Whether Tuchel has solved the problem Bellingham identified, or simply reframed it in more palatable language, is something we will know considerably more about by the time the group stage concludes. The overhead kick in Gelsenkirchen was spectacular. What comes next needs to be more than that.
FAQ
What did Jude Bellingham say about England’s Euro 2024 campaign?
Bellingham said England did not connect “as well as we could have” off the pitch during Euro 2024, suggesting internal cohesion was a problem despite the squad reaching the final. He made the comments from England’s World Cup 2026 base in Kansas City.
How did England perform at Euro 2024?
England reached the final in Berlin, where they were beaten by Spain. Their route to the final was widely criticised as unconvincing, with several matches requiring late interventions — most notably Bellingham’s overhead kick against Slovakia in the last sixteen — to avoid elimination.
What is Thomas Tuchel trying to do differently with England?
Tuchel has spoken publicly about creating a “brotherhood” within the squad, emphasising collective identity and togetherness. Bellingham’s comments about Euro 2024 appear to endorse that shift in approach, implicitly contrasting the current atmosphere with Southgate’s era.
Did Ivan Toney score a hat-trick in England’s pre-tournament friendly?
According to the Independent, Toney scored a hat-trick in a behind-closed-doors friendly in Miami, including a goal from range. Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha also reportedly scored, though his exact squad status for the tournament remains unclear.
Is Harry Kane England’s only world-class player at the 2026 World Cup?
Gary Neville argued on Sky Sports that Kane is the only genuine world-class player in England’s squad and that the team is built around him. It is a debatable position — Bellingham’s supporters would dispute it — but it raises a legitimate structural question about England’s depth of quality beyond their striker.
Where can I watch England’s World Cup 2026 matches?
For information on how to follow England’s games this summer, visit our watch page for the latest details on coverage options.
