Thomas Tuchel is confronted with a strategic puzzle as England aims to maximize Harry Kane’s contributions while encouraging greater involvement from his teammates. Jude Bellingham’s standout performance against Panama highlighted a potential solution to this dual challenge.
Kane has netted 13 goals during Tuchel’s 17 matches in charge of the national team, yet no other player has managed more than three goals. His scoring includes a penalty and a header from a corner in the game against Croatia, but he struggled to make an impact during the match versus Ghana, failing to capitalize on a rebound.
Typically, a center-forward receives fewer passes than their fellow players, although Kane often attempts to mitigate this by dropping deeper into midfield. The real issue for England has been the lack of effective service to their star striker throughout the tournament, with fewer players than hoped delivering the ball to him.
In the opening match, Jordan Pickford recorded the highest number of passes to Kane, completing three, while in the subsequent match, Marc Guéhi matched this total. Against Panama, three players managed to deliver four passes to Kane, but Bellingham’s two assists demonstrated that quality can outweigh quantity.
It is somewhat surprising that the Real Madrid midfielder and Kane have not collaborated more frequently on the international stage. According to Opta’s statistics, prior to the Panama match, Bellingham had only created three chances for England’s all-time leading scorer over 1,154 minutes they played together in major tournaments.
The only goal they had previously combined for in an international fixture occurred during a friendly victory at Hampden Park in 2023, where a similarly incisive pass unlocked the Scottish defense. Bellingham replicated this success against Panama.
Before Bellingham’s intervention, England had produced a mere 0.54 expected goals during the first 56 minutes against Panama. However, his through ball set up Kane for their first Opta-defined significant chance of the match. Shortly after, Bellingham won a corner, scored from it, and assisted Kane for England’s second goal.
Opta’s expected assists metric, which estimates the likelihood that completed passes will result in goals, showed Bellingham’s passes against Panama were valued at 0.57, the highest for any England player in a group stage match. Noni Madueke (0.66) was the only other player to reach that total across all three group matches.
The chances Bellingham created for Kane were significant, ranking as the second and joint-fourth highest valued opportunities any England player set up during the group stage.
Tuchel’s challenge now is to ensure that such productive moments become a regular feature, especially with the Democratic Republic of the Congo expected to adopt a low defensive block in their upcoming match.
