England’s uninspiring play at Euro 2024 continued on Sunday during a grueling Round of 16 game against Slovakia. It sure seemed like the Three Lions, a heavy tournament favorite, would really be upset by the massive underdog from Central Europe.
Then superstar midfielder Jude Bellingham had a say. Because of course he did.
With England fighting for its tournament life in the last moments of stoppage time, Bellingham got off an incredible bicycle kick that found the back of the net and tied the game at 1-1. Given the stakes, it will likely be remembered as one of the greatest goals in English history.
You can hardly blame English announcer Ian Darke for losing his mind over Bellingham’s remarkable “rescue.”
“Jude Bellingham! A rescue! It had to be him, didn’t it?”
Any time you see Bellingham, one of the best players in the world, play like a star when their team needs him most, you should count yourself lucky. And any time you can hear someone like Darke capture the moment perfectly, you know you’re living large as a soccer fan.
Mere moments later, in extra time — 192 seconds to be exact — Harry Kane gave England the lead on a header:
If the English go on to win, this stunning two-goal sequence from Bellingham and Kane will be firmly etched as one of the most iconic moments the Euros have ever seen.
Some Dortmund fans didn’t take kindly to Reyna’s comment on his friend’s post
Gio Reyna has deleted a comment on Jude Bellingham’s Instagram in the wake of Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in Saturday’s Champions League final.
Madrid star Bellingham posted a series of celebratory images after winning his first European title, with the caption: “CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!!! Siempre HALA MADRID!”
In the comments section, Reyna responded with three white heart emojis.
On one hand, the U.S. national team star’s response made perfect sense: Reyna and Bellingham are close from their time playing together with Dortmund, as the England midfielder even said last month that Reyna is his best friend outside of Real Madrid.
On the other hand, some Dortmund fans were perturbed by Reyna — at least in some way — appearing to celebrate Madrid’s victory in the final over his own team.
Reyna spent the first half of the 2023-24 season with Dortmund, making two appearances in the club’s Champions League campaign before a midseason loan switch to Nottingham Forest.
After a disappointing loan in England, Reyna will return to Dortmund ahead of the 2024-25 campaign with his future very much in the air.
Perhaps in response to the backlash, or with the hope of avoiding a greater one, Reyna eventually deleted the comment.
If anyone knows about Gio Reyna’s quality, it’s Jude Bellingham
If anyone knows about Gio Reyna’s quality, it’s Jude Bellingham.
The pair were teammates for three seasons at Borussia Dortmund before Bellingham departed last summer to join Real Madrid, where he’s added to his growing reputation as one of the world’s top players.
Reyna hasn’t had nearly the same level of club success since Bellingham left Germany. The 21-year-old didn’t get a sustained run of playing time at Dortmund before departing at midseason to join Nottingham Forest on loan.
But things haven’t been any better in England, with Reyna totaling just 38 minutes of action with Forest thus far.
The international break came as a much-needed respite for Reyna, who showed what he can do over two Concacaf Nations League matches with the United States.
Reyna assisted two Haji Wright goals in extra time of a 3-1 win over Jamaica in the semifinal, and then scored himself in a 2-0 win over Mexico in the final on Sunday. For his efforts, Reyna won the Golden Ball as the Nations League’s best player.
After taking home more individual and team hardware, Reyna posted a series of photos on Instagram. Bellingham jumped into the comments section with a boost to his old friend, saying: “Cream always rises to the top.”
📸💬 Jude’s comment on ex-teammate Gio Reyna’s latest Instagram post.
The challenge for Reyna will now be to translate his international form to the club level. His next chance to impress for Forest could come on Saturday in a Premier League match against Crystal Palace, which features his USMNT teammate Chris Richards.
The Barcelona left back might not be able to shake this one off
Alejandro Balde’s chances of winning the Golden Boy Web award have been severely compromised by his taste in music.
The Barcelona left back is among the top candidates for the award given to the top men’s player under the age of 21 at a European club.
But an offhand comment the 19-year-old made in an interview with MundoDeportivo looks to have proven costly — at least when it comes to the award decided on a fan vote. Balde, you see, offended fans of Taylor Swift by having the temerity to suggest he wasn’t a fan of her music.
The Swifties, known to be a devoted and very online bunch, struck back with a vengeance.
Hey Swifties! 🫵👋 we can’t let this Balde guy win the golden boy award 😡💅 Vote for Jude Bellingham here 🫠👇
❗Alejandro Balde was leading the race in the fan vote of the Golden Boy 2023. Jude Bellingham had 30k votes.
But suddenly, in just 7 minutes Jude suddenly got almost 100k new votes, when the fan vote in total had around 100k votes in a couple of hours. @martinminan_pic.twitter.com/gP6ZwCLsnc
Within minutes on Tuesday, Balde went from having the lead in the voting to falling way behind Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham. As of this moment, Bellingham leads Balde by a nearly two-to-one margin.
It should be noted that the Swifties only have so much power here. The voting is for the Golden Boy Web award, which is strictly decided by a fan vote. The actual Golden Boy award, meanwhile, will be determined by a jury of journalists from around Europe.
Balde can only hope that group of media members doesn’t contain too many Swifties.
“Last year it was Erling, the year before it was Jadon”
Edin Terzić seems to be embracing the inevitable.
The Borussia Dortmund head coach has been around the club for some time; first as a scout, then an assistant coach, interim manager and finally, his current position which he assumed ahead of this season.
Terzić has therefore seen plenty of players rise to prominence at the club before being sold on for a massive fee.
Jude Bellingham seems to be the next in line, with Marca reporting this week that Real Madrid’s move for the England international midfielder is almost done.
Los Blancos will reportedly pay between €100 million and €120 million for Bellingham.
Ahead of his title-chasing side’s game against Wolfsburg on Sunday, Terzić addressed the speculation around the 19-year-old. While he didn’t confirm anything had been done, the coach did mention two other ex-Dortmund stars who have left in recent years.
“Now the news comes from Spain, before that it came from England, before that it even came from France at one point,” the coach said at a press conference. “Last year it was Erling [Haaland], the year before it was Jadon [Sancho]. We’ve had a lot of experience with that over the last few years.
“Jude comes here every day and gives everything to become German champion at the end of the season. I haven’t even heard from him that he’s involved with any club. We are much more concerned with how we can make him and the team better. That’s the only topic I currently have with him. The rest are topics that have no place in the dressing room or in the manager’s office. All we are concerned with now is making sure we have something really nice to holds in our hands at the end of the season.”
Musah: “I have a lot of respect for (England) for everything they’ve done for me”
The U.S. men’s national team won’t face anyone at this World Cup that they’re as connected to as England, their opponent in Friday’s much-anticipated Group B meeting.
There are the basic connections that most fans can rattle off: eight USMNT players ply their trade with English clubs, and several of them will be standing across from club teammates. Christian Pulisic will see three familiar faces from Chelsea, while Arsenal’s Matt Turner will see the same number of club colleagues suiting up for the Three Lions. At Borussia Dortmund, Gio Reyna often lines up right next to England playmaker Jude Bellingham.
The intertwined nature of these teams goes deeper on the USMNT side, though, as three players (Cameron Carter-Vickers, Yunus Musah, and Antonee Robinson) were raised in the UK, and speak with English accents.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Carter-Vickers — born in England but eligible for the USMNT through his father, who hails from Baton Rouge, Louisiana — laughed as he noted that in his family, “half of them want us to win, and half want England to win.”
Sitting alongside the Celtic center back, Turner acknowledged another important factor: most USMNT fans are regularly watching the Premier League, boosting the desire to measure up to England on the field.
“There’s definitely a tremendous respect from the people of America of English soccer,” said Turner. “It’s the [league] that I grew up watching when I got a little bit older.”
“I think for me, it’s a game that I really want to win, just like any other game in the World Cup,” said Carter-Vickers. “To be honest, I’m not too sure how I’m gonna feel when when the game comes around, but you know, I do know that I’ll be doing everything I can to try and help the team win.”
(AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Musah, who played for English youth national teams, shared a similar thought. “I don’t know how I’m gonna feel that day. But yeah, it’s a special game for sure, because I played on both sides, and to be able to be on the pitch with the same national team I used to play with is just special.”
Musah came up in Gareth Southgate’s pre-match remarks as well, as the England manager mischievously credited Gregg Berhalter for his “talent identification,” noting that the USMNT had successfully lobbied the Valencia midfielder to play for the United States despite his youth national team history with the Three Lions. “He obviously took [Musah], which we weren’t very happy about. Fair play.”
Musah called that choice “difficult,” adding that “it was a really nice time with [England]. I have a lot of respect for them for everything they’ve done for me.”
USMNT respects Saka, Kane, Bellingham
Turner, like Musah, is very familiar with England’s Bukayo Saka. Turner sees him with Arsenal on a regular basis, while Musah trained with him for years in the Gunners’ academy system. Both underlined the threat they know is coming from the 21-year-old, who had a brace against Iran.
“He’s one of the young stars of world football,” explained Turner. “He’s a top, top player, and I think you don’t need me to tell anybody on our team how much of a threat that he poses in the game. He’s scoring goals in a variety of ways.”
Musah agreed, and added that Bellingham — his teammate at the youth national team level — is in the same category. “You can see what they’re doing week-in, week-out, and they’re producing at the World Cup as well,” said Musah. “We’re gonna have to be on our game on Friday.”
“I think it’ll be difficult,” Carter-Vickers said of a reunion with the Spurs forward. “He’s a top player, you know, they’ve got a squad full of top players. So, I think we all know that we have to put in one of our best performances to beat them.”
