Jude Bellingham spares England’s blushes! 😳

Not enough to save Bellingham English

English lost 1-2 to Greece at Wembley in Nations League Group B2 even though midfielder Jude Bellingham scored his first goal of the season.

For the second time in the game, Ollie Watkins crossed the ball into the box in the 87th minute, but three teammates were unable to finish. The ball went out, and Bellingham came up from the second line to finish with a lateral touch. This tied the game at one-one.

This is Bellingham’s first goal for both his club team and his country this 2024–2025 season. The English midfielder has only set up two goals in eight games across all categories for Real Madrid.

Last season, Bellingham scored 23 goals and set up 13 others in 42 games across all tournaments, which helped Real win three La Liga titles, the Spanish Super Cup, and the Champions League. There is a good chance that the 21-year-old playmaker will win the Ballon d’Or. He was named La Liga Player of the Year 2023–2024.

 

Britain lost at home, though, and Bellingham couldn’t save them. After Konstantinos Koulierakis passed the ball to Vangelis Pavlidis in the 49th minute, the striker turned around in front of five home players in the penalty area and crossed the ball past Jordan Pickford, who was in goal, to open the scoring.

It was a mess in the penalty area in the fourth minute of extra time, but Pavlidis quickly scored diagonally to make it 2-1 and help Greece win all three points at Wembley. Greece England for the first time in their history. Before this, they had lost seven times and tied twice in all events.

As a child, Pavlidis grew up in Bochum. He then went to the Netherlands to play for Willem II Tilburg and AZ Alkmaar. He used to play for Greece and now plays for Benfica. In 41 games for Greece, he scored eight goals.

 

Greece held a minute of silence before the game to remember George Baldock, a former international player who died this week at the age of 31. “It’s a very special day and a very special match for us,” he said. “We all think about Baldock, but we have to play because we’re professionals.” We’re doing everything we can for Baldock. We shouldn’t talk about football today.

Three goals for Greece were called back for offside, so they could have won by more. EPSN says that a lot of people had already left Wembley when Bellingham tied the game in the 87th minute. The poor showing hurt Lee Carsley’s chances of becoming the permanent manager of England. It was his first loss since taking over from Gareth Southgate. Carsley’s first game as coach of the “Three Lions” was last month. They both Ireland and Finland by the same score of 2-0.