Soloist Bellingham lifts another joyless display

Midfielder continues his happy knack of delivering decisive moments on the big stage to rescue England

- Barney Ronay

In the half-time break at a rain-fogged New York New Jersey Stadium, with England still living out the same painful never-ending 0-0 draw, a lone saxophonist could be heard playing a series of noodling riffs on the deserted concourse outside.

So it’s come to this. Even the New York dinner jazz scene is having a pop now. And sometimes it really does feel as if the world is trying to tell you something. England had been footballing toothache to that point, awkward, rigid, unable to think or move freely, to find combinations to fit the patterns in front of them.

Panama are a good team. The issue was not the scoreline. It was the way England looked, the joylessness, the dead ends, the passing patterns that felt like the footballing equivalent of watching someone very slowly assembling a wardrobe. Oh for a single free spirit, a soloist, some kind of journey up and down the emotional scales.

And England did find this in the second half. What changed was that Jude Bellingham delivered two decisive moments in the space of five minutes.

Bellingham can be dismissed a little by some as a player of moments. Is that bad? Moments win games. Bellingham is 22 and still finding his final form. He promises to do these things, walks and talks like he might do them. But then he also does them, which seems important. With England paddling here, he had the will and the craft to take out the spoons and rattle something off on his knee just when they needed it most.

By the end, as England’s players Wonderwalled it up with their damp and happy travelling fans, a 2-0 win looked pretty good. England have topped the group and will play their last-32 game in Atlanta against the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They haven’t conceded a goal in five halves of football. But this was also a win that told another story for long periods, and a familiar one too.