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there. Good evening. Welcome to the World Cup game day sports bar. I'm Jamie. Alongside me tonight is Rory Jennings. England. We're in another World Cup semifinal. The fourth in our history. Can we get it done? It wasn't pretty, but we dug in against Norway. Jude Bellingham. Unbelievable stuff from him. If you want to have your say, obviously come on late the other day. Still loads of calls to get through. If you want to come on and talk about England, don't worry. 717234. It is all about Wednesday. Now we face Argentina for a place in the World Cup final. How confident are we? Can we do it? Also, we're going to be joined by European football expert Kevin Hatard.
We look ahead to tomorrow's World Cup semi-final between France and Spain. And we're going to be joined by Talk Sport reporter Ben Jacobs. Aston Villa losing two of their best players. Loads to talk about with that. A bit of a shambles there. 03 717234. Hello mate. Yes sir. How are you? Yeah. Buzzing. Absolutely. But I've got I feel like I've not seen you for No, it's been far too long. It's been we've been ships. We've been like ships in the night, haven't we? Yeah. I've been asking to get you on and finally we've got you back. I have to ask you though because you was out in Mexico.
Yeah. You took the risk. Yeah. You went 48 hours before the game. Yeah. It was the best decision I've ever made, including having children and getting married. It was literally the best thing I've ever done. It was in It was majorly in jeopardy. I couldn't really go like when England were drawn to play in the Aztec. Obviously, it's one of those beacons of football, isn't it? It's like one of the It's like the holy grail. So, it's it's a pilgrimage to go to watch England play in that stadium and I felt like I had to be there. When you anyone that's a football fan loves that ground, think of everything. Carlos Alberto's goal, Pelle lifting the World Cup there, Maradona. It's It's just full
of history and I felt like I had to go. But it was so impractical. We had about 48 hours to sort it out and I had commitments here. I've got a baby at home. My MS is back working. You say to the MS, "I've got to go." Yeah. I kind of made it a pilgrimage almost like a religious experience. I was like, "Look, to be the man I want to be, I have to go to this. I can't not go to this. If I don't go to this, I'm not who I think I am. I'm a I follow England home in a way I always have. England are now playing in a fixture that is about as historic as it gets.
I can't not be there. Yeah. And I mean she kind of knows what she married. She knows my limitations. You know there's many of them and she kind of she said no with his hill gone. Possibly. But she's a good girl. Like you mean possibly. You want to be the man you want to be, mate? SHE'S GOT TO GO. YEAH. You've just got to go. You've got to go. She also is if she loves me, which she professes to do, she wouldn't want to stand in my way for something like that. And she was very supportive. She kind of understood that it was just part of who I am going to that game. And I genuinely mean it.
It was the best decision of my life. It was everything I thought it would be, you know, in terms Never been there before. Never been to Mexico. But, you know, in terms of the stadium, the imposing quality of the stadium, the atmosphere within the ground, the acoustics of it all. You could feel the history and it was everything I hoped it would be. And then look at the fixture we got. Look at the fixture. Like I What was the atmosphere like in there? It was one of the best I've ever experienced. They were relentless. Do you know what was very different about it Jay? Do you know where it come the way I'd compare
it to English stadiums? You know in England in say when it's popping at Tottenham you'll get like the pocket that pops. You get behind the goal like what used you get the you get various points in stadium. So the north bank at Hbury is what used to go right the shelf side at Tottenham is what used to go. The shed at Chelsea is what it used to go, but it doesn't often go all the way around and it certainly doesn't filter into the corporate end or whatever. Yeah. What I noticed about the Mexican support, it was man, woman, child, old age pensioner, rich, poor, plush seats, most loyal seats. Yeah.
Everybody was on it. It was very different. And yeah, it was great. It was everything I wanted it to be. And I mean that night, I think I fell in love with you Bellingham. if I didn't already and I can't remember where this love affair was born where I kind of realized that Drew Bellingham was everything I wanted him to be. Yeah. That was the night that it came alive. It was everything. Do you know it was a small thing as well? You know, when you're in the ground, you see it differently, don't you?
Yeah, of course. You see it differently. And there were little moments where I just thought this is the governor. This is the guy. There was a moment actually at the end when we're doing Wonder Wall. So my seat that I got wasn't in the England end, right? I'm in the equivalent of like a West. I'm kind of like side view. Yeah. And I'm looking over at the England end and I said to my mate, I was like, "Look, we've we've seen two goals here. We've we've had a great time, but we've got to get in there because if this goes well and we're winning, they're going to do Wonder Wall. We have to be part of that. We can't witness it.
We got to be in there." So, we smuggled our way in. Yeah. We bribed our way in. How did you do it? I'll tell you how we did. I think I could say this now, right? I'll tell you what we did. We left. So, so we kind of went out and tried to get back in. You couldn't. They were actually on it. And I pride myself on being all right at that kind of ducking and ding. I think I'm all right at that. Yeah. And I was having no luck. But what you could see that they done in Mexico in order to make the game as safe as possible, there was like an abundance of police. And you know when you can I'll tell you the example. When
the England fans were walking through singing, there was this girl who was like clearly about 18 like leaning on her shield filming the England fans as a copper. I was like, she's not a copper. She's just been drafted in for a day's work to kind of just be an official. Yeah. So we went up to try and get in. Couldn't get in. There was a kid. Honestly, he looked about 15. He's probably 20. Yeah. And I went I showed the ticket which is a barcode. I kind of showed it and tried to scramble in. I got English and tried to go into the Wouldn't have it.
I had some dollars on me. I thought they use dollars in there because mate, I got done. I don't know if you know this. Go on. What currency do they use in Mexico? It's a good question. Right. So I've looked it up and I think I'm on it. It's dollars. You got the dollar sign. They call it dollars, right? Although they don't call it dollars, but it's a dollar sign, right? So, I got a load of dollars out, right? They don't use dollars. They use pesos. And I was like, I've gone there with a load of American dollars, which they don't want. But I had like I think I had a $100 bill.
Yeah. And I've just kind of said to the fell, "Can we come in?" He g. And I kind of just offered the $100 and he turned the blind eye. Me and my mate went in. And when we were in there, this is when I realized that Jude Bellingham was just different. He's jumped over the hoordings to do wonderful with us. So, he's not part of the England team. He's jumped over the Hoings. And I just thought this bloke is the conduit between the support and the team. He is the He is like he's a fan on the He's a fan from my perspective, but he's a de facto captain on the pitch. And yeah, it was immense, man. It was immense. He did Hey, Jude. This is amazing. We did Hey, Jude just as he was leaving the pitch.
Yeah. And he's gone down the tunnel. I was like, "Oh, he's missed it." Yeah. He come charging back out. Yeah. Yeah, you can't charge it back out while we did a Jude. So, no, it was an amazing experience, man. One of the best of my poor old Jordan Henderson. Yeah, there's another example. Hang on, Jay. You've just reminded me another example where I realized that Jude Bellingham was the main man. I didn't know what had happened, but he was right in front of me. H I could see a player on the floor. Didn't really know what had happened, but the press scrambling around taking pictures like really swarmed on him, you know? You know the way you see sort of
like a bird of prey, you know, and they all swarm at the same time. They're all scrambling around loads of pictures being taken. Bellingham jumps over the hoodings again. He's going in front of the press and he's really had obviously now with hindsight. Yeah, Jordan Henderson's done his arm. It was horrific for terrible and the press are taking photos of it which is incredibly out of order. Like it's a horrible thing. You don't want that documented. There is privacy that should be like a courtesy of privacy that should be extended to the player. Bellingham has taken it on himself to come and say to the press absolutely not. He's putting his hands in front of the lenses and all that.
He's just the main man. He's with him in this team. He's player of the tournament already and he is he player of the tournament 100%. I don't think you can give him Listen, he's player of the tournament. If he doesn't score another goal has nothing if he doesn't play another game. I don't know, mate. I don't know. Listen, we got two games left, right? If scores a hattick against Spain tomorrow is he not play scored a hat trick in the semi in a hat trick in the final, he's still not played at all.
I disagree, mate. It's still all to play for, right? This is the moment now where you this the big guns are still there. Kane, um, Messi, Elisa, Bellingham, they're all there. Honorable mentions. They're all up for gra. It's up for grab. No, it's honorable mentions. Can't give it to Bellingham yet. I 100% can. He can't. Player of the tournament. Bellingham's player of the tournament. You want to talk about Mbappe? I think you've raised a good point. Mbappe worthy of consideration.
Not Messi second. I mean, third then Harry Kane's up there, but Bellingham is player of this tournament. I can't believe how good. Did you know? Be totally honest before the tournament. Did you know he was this good? No. I knew he was unbelievable. Of course, I've watched him for a few years, but there was obviously question marks over his performances at Real Madrid, right? And his fitness and wasn't always having him, was it? Yeah. And look, and that was where the kind of, you know, question marks were raised, weren't they, with Morgan Rogers and him who starts, where'd you go? And,
you know, we're watching Morgan Rogers every week do really well. Um, you know, we used to we were speaking to uh Terry Gibson quite a lot about Bellingham out there and he was saying, "Listen, he's playing well." You know, Real Madrid are not doing great, but Bellingham's playing well. So, we were I was like, obviously, you know what you know how good he is, but you wanted to see it like can you produce? Can you produce on the world stage? Boy, six goals in six. I mean, that's what he's done so far. It's the Real Madrid thing as well. You know, you just obviously brought up Real Madrid that he's doing it there. I feel a lot of his performances, they're quite
unen English. They He's got that Real Madrid quality, you know, that give me the ball. I'm better than you. I'll do it. Leave it to me. I suppose we're going back to Gelson Kirken now, aren't we? After when he scored that bicycle kick. Who else? Yeah. But with him in the team, I don't think you think that's a British thing that we don't like cuz I feel like there's been a bit of an agenda around Bellingham. You think there's a bit of a like a British thing about where we don't like to we don't like arrogance over here, do we? No. Like we don't see it as very British. We don't see it as an English thing.
No, it's not an English quality. It's not how we act, but other countries love it. Yeah. And weirdly, we love it in non-English players. Yeah. Like you know when Eric Cantonar scores a goal and puts his collar up. We're not going put your collar down Eric. We're go we're going that's unreal. Like he scor he chips a keeper against Sunderland in front of Strefford end. He surveys the landscape as if he owns it. Puts his collar up and we all go that's brilliant. Teddy Sharing is Teddy Sharing have done exactly the same thing. We got put your collar down Teddy. What you playing at?
Yeah. Big time. Yeah. But no, with Bellingham, I think it's different because for delivering and also I think you need it that arrogance, that competitive nature, that belief that he instills in the team. I don't know. Look, we've seen some amazing players play for England over the in my lifetime, but I feel that what Bellingham is doing, even if you compare it to Kane, and Kane is an icon. Kane is one of England's greats as well, but Bellingham feels different. Do you think he's the greatest player to ever play for England?
Can we frame this question in a slightly different way? Can we just discount the 66 winners? I can't You can't go against Bobby Mor. Yeah. Yeah, they've won it. They've But is he the best player you've seen in an English ever? He's not He's probably not the best player, but he might be the best England player. The best player for England. Like look, you could argue that Steven Gerald was a better player than him. You could argue that Paul Scholes was. You could argue that lots of players were, but none of them did it for England in the way that Bellingham has already. Already 22 years old already. Think about what happened in
Qatar. Think about what happened in Germany and this World Cup. He's taken it to a completely different level. Yeah. Like I think it's amazing. I don't Rooney never did it for England quite like Rooney I was there. Rooney scored one goal at World Cup for England. Yeah. Like Jamie Carragher wrote a piece in yesterday's Telegraph and he was talking about Gaza. He was kind of making the comparisons with Gaza. Gaza captured a nation and Yeah. And he obviously did and you think of his performances in Italian 90 and then Euro 96. But I didn't know this until I read Carrager's article. Gaza didn't score at Italian 90.
He didn't score. Bellingham's got six in six. It's different. It's I don't see how you can say that he's not better than what Gerard did for England. Gerard had his moments. remarkable footballer, but Rooney's contribution, Gerald's contribution, Lampard's contribution, it just can't be bigger than what Bellingham's already done. Do you agree? Um, yeah, I kind of do. I mean, Gaza was my idol growing up. You know what I mean? Like, and I look at what he done and how he played. I think Bellingham's a I think Bellinham's better. I think he's just unbelievable. Six goals in a World Cup.
Six goals in carrying your team. He's not and he's not a forward. Yeah, you know when you're looking at the people that are scoring the goals going Mbappe, Kane, Harland was in it. They're center forwards. He's Bellingham is doing that. Bellingham is competing with the center forwards for numbers, but then at various points he's dropping deep here into an eight. He's he's covering every blade of grass. He's he's the de facto captain, the personality of the team. I've never seen anything like it. I love him so much. And with him, I think this is true, right? Whether it happens, I think we're going to smash Argentina. But whether we do or not, whether
whether it happens this time or not, here's something I'm really confident about. With Bellingham, like by the next World Cup, he's 26. Nothing. Yeah. With Bellingham, we win a World Cup. Whether it's this one or not, I think we can debate. I think it is, but you might say it's not. And therefore, that's fine. But Bellingham will win a World Cup with England before he retires. And that is good enough, right? Because we That means it either happens now. Means we're going to be alive. Yeah. It means it happens now or it happens in Portugal or, you know, so it's coming.
