Gareth Southgate believes that Jude Bellingham will grow as an England player after coming through the physical and mental challenge of being targeted by Brazil’s tough tactics.
Bellingham’s star status was underlined by his bruising experience during England’s 1-0 friendly defeat to the five-times world champions at Wembley on Saturday night. The Real Madrid midfielder tried to carry the fight to Brazil by getting on the ball and charging at them, only for his momentum to be blocked by some cynical challenges.
The stats showed that Bellingham was fouled five times and there was a sense that Brazil were trying to get under his skin. The 20-year-old had to watch his step after picking up an early booking for a risky challenge on Bruno Guimarães.
There is a fiery edge to Bellingham’s game and England’s opponents at Euro 2024 could try to exploit it. It is worth noting that he has been booked nine times for Madrid this season and served a ban after a red card against Valencia earlier this month, although Southgate felt that Bellingham will learn from Brazil’s rough approach.
“He is a top player and they’re an aggressive side,” England’s head coach said. “In a competitive game there would have been more cards than there were tonight so that would have curbed that. But that’s a good experience for him to have to go through.
“I thought he handled it well tonight. He’s ended up getting a yellow card that could have been the other way several times. The bigger thing tonight was that he was cramping up. He’s missed a lot of football recently so physically he’s still getting back to that top level.”
Southgate, who felt that Brazil’s Lucas Paquetá should have been shown a second yellow card in the first half, was asked if he speaks to Bellingham about managing his emotions. “We spoke to all the players before the game that you know that against a South American team it’s going to be a physical game with lots of fouls,” he said.
“The foul count compared to the card count didn’t tally and in a competitive game I think that would have been different and they would not have been able to keep fouling as they did.”
On Sunday night, it was announced that defenders Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire, plus back-up goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, have withdrawn from the squad due to injuries picked up with England. The FA said the trio have “returned to their respective clubs for assessment”.
Walker was forced off in the early exchanges against Brazil with a hamstring problem. His injury will be a concern to his club Manchester City, who host Arsenal in a crunch Premier League game on Sunday.
Maguire was taken off after 67 minutes on Saturday after only recently returning to fitness. Manchester City’s Rico Lewis and the Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford have been promoted to the senior squad from the under 21s for tomorrow’s match against Belgium.
The latest injuries add to what has been a frustrating camp for Southgate, who was already without a host of ailing players.
Harry Kane’s absence in attack was felt against Brazil with Ollie Watkins struggling in his place, and the Bayern Munich striker has left the camp before England’s friendly against Belgium
“The injury he’s got now is a bit of an extreme incident, he got his foot caught in the netting,” Southgate said. “He’s very happy with how his ankles have been over a period of time. He’s had the winter break, they’re not in their domestic cup so we can’t do any more than that. He’s such a good professional that he’ll give himself the best chance of being fit and available.”
