Jude Bellingham’s World Cup debut keeps him up all night

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Jude Bellingham endured a largely sleepless night time after his first worldwide objective and World Cup debut for England.

That was partly due to the adrenaline after the 6-2 rout of Iran on Monday — but additionally the sheer quantity of congratulatory messages he obtained.

The 19-year-old midfielder took to the largest stage in world soccer like a veteran, with a dominant show that justified his standing as probably the most thrilling prospects on present in Qatar.

“It’s troublesome to sleep,” he stated Tuesday. “I used to be up all night time attempting to answer to messages and communicate to folks concerning the recreation.

“I’m type of simply coming down from the excessive now and specializing in the following recreation. I’m simply attempting to maintain my ft on the bottom.”

Bellingham’s level-headedness is one among his biggest strengths at such an early age and seen him set up himself on the coronary heart of the workforce for England and his membership Borussia Dortmund.

It has additionally set the stage for an anticipated battle for his signature subsequent summer season, with Europe’s main golf equipment poised to maneuver.

Whereas he’s attempting to stay humble, there is no such thing as a scarcity of figures within the recreation lining as much as reward his prodigious expertise.

Manchester Metropolis supervisor Pep Guardiola has publicly enthused about him.

Manchester United nice Alex Ferguson tried to persuade Bellingham to maneuver to Previous Trafford when he left Birmingham at age 17.

England teammate Marcus Rashford is one other who has been impressed by the velocity of his growth.

“He’s actually mature, and for me it exhibits in his performances,” the ahead stated. “He didn’t put a foot fallacious, and he was right here, there and in every single place yesterday.”

Former England and United defender Rio Ferdinand went additional.

“The authority that he performs with on the pitch goes effectively past his years,” he instructed the BBC. “He’s a superb footballer, however delivering at a World Cup like that at that age.

“We discuss concerning the nice midfielders that we’ve performed with and seen in England in our technology. None of them had been doing what he’s doing at this age, on this stage.”

His hometown membership Birmingham clearly thought Bellingham was destined to realize enormous success when deciding to retire his jersey after solely 44 senior appearances.

This can be very uncommon for soccer groups to bestow that honor on gamers — particularly ones so younger.

But Bellingham has been a participant who has belied his years from the second he made his full debut at 16.

“I all the time dreamed that I might be right here, I by no means thought it will be this early in all truthfully,” he stated. “I’ve been given the chance to do issues that lots of people haven’t had in full careers which makes me so grateful.”

For all his maturity on the sphere, the sheer pleasure he felt after that first objective for his nation got here out when recalling it.

“I can’t cease smiling,” he stated. “I’ve scored fairly a couple of objectives this season, in some fairly large video games, however that tops something that I’ve ever scored. That feeling considering, have I actually simply achieved that? I used to be considering this could’t be actual.”

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AP World Cup protection: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson