Over 21 million English-speaking Americans watched England beat Mexico 3-2 in the round of 16 last Sunday — the largest English-language World Cup broadcast in U.S. history not involving the USMNT. That tells you something. England have become the tournament's adopted team for neutral viewers, and they're earning it the hard way.
Playing 40-plus minutes with ten men, surviving 13 shots, holding just 28% possession in the second half — and still winning. That's not a fluke. That's a team with something about them.
Kane, Bellingham, and why this partnership is a problem for every defence left
Harry Kane has six goals at this tournament, five of which have directly decided England's results. He beat Haaland and Mbappé to be Europe's leading club scorer last season with 36 goals for Bayern Munich. He's 32, he's been written off more times than anyone can count, and he's quietly running one of the tightest Golden Boot races at any World Cup in recent memory — sitting one behind Mbappé and Messi on eight.
Then there's Jude Bellingham. Debuted for England at 17. Signed for Real Madrid at 19. Now 23 and in his fourth tournament. His 95th-minute bicycle kick against Slovakia at Euro 2024 dragged England back from an exit that would have been humiliating — Kane finished the job in extra time. That moment defined the partnership: Bellingham creates the miracle, Kane closes it out. Norway, Argentina, whoever comes next — none of them want that combination in front of them.
Jordan Pickford made three fine saves against Mexico and is appearing at his sixth consecutive tournament. Dan Burn, a 6ft 7in Newcastle defender who only came on after the 75th minute, made six headed clearances — more than anyone on the pitch. Elliot Anderson, 23, completed a £116 million move from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City mid-tournament, which tells you exactly how he's been playing. England's squad depth is real.
Why a German coach and 60 years of failure actually makes sense together
Thomas Tuchel is the third non-Englishman to manage England, after Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello. He won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 and could walk into almost any top job in the sport. The fact that he's German — a country that's knocked England out of four tournaments since 1966 — raised eyebrows. The FA decided the best available coach mattered more than the optics. Hard to argue with that now.
His assistant Anthony Barry has quietly been as important. Barry's idea to shift Declan Rice from midfield into defence against DR Congo in the round of 32 turned a losing game into a 2-1 win. That kind of tactical flexibility mid-match is what separates tournament sides from tourists.
England's only World Cup came in 1966 on home soil. Since then: six penalty shootout exits between 1990 and 2012, a golden generation that never got past the quarters, and Gareth Southgate — who took them further than anyone post-1966 — losing the Euro 2024 final 2-1 to Spain in the 86th minute. Sixty years of near-misses have a weight to them that no other football nation quite understands.
The path from here: quarterfinal against Norway today, potential semifinal with Messi's Argentina on Wednesday, then possibly Mbappé's France or Spain — the team that beat them in that Euros final — in the final on July 19. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has floated a national holiday if they lift the trophy. That's how seriously this is being taken at home.
England haven't been this close to winning it since they hosted it. Kane's odds for the Golden Boot deserve a serious look, and anyone pricing up the outright winner market needs to factor in a squad that just beat Mexico a man down at 2am and made it look like character rather than chaos.
