Bellingham, England’s man for elite moments, kicks over the console table | Barney Ronay

And breathe again. For the opening 45 minutes under the giant Victorian train station roof at the Dallas Stadium, England produced a performance that was a bit like watching one of those YouTube videos where an awkward and frightening Chinese robot has learned how to dance like Michael Jackson. Dogged and occasionally convincing, but the kind of spectacle that does generally end with the robot falling off the stage. England didn’t just play like machines in that first half. They played like faulty machines, scared machines, contributing almost zero free-form football to a 2-2 half-time score that included two Harry Kane set-piece goals; the first a set piece from a set piece, a penalty after a corner, set piece squared. Was this going to be the story here? Is this how we’re going to go down, in a kind of singularity, the death of hope, football as units of action, deathly set moves? Tuchel called it last September. Throw-ins are back. Corners are so hot right now. In that opening half England had those parts, but nothing much else in between. At which point, the most important thing happened, not just in this game, but in Tuchel’s time with England. Credit must go to the manager for whatever he did to these players at half-time . And also to Jude Bellingham, who scored what would turn out to be not just the decisive goal in this 4-2 win , but also a moment of drive and energy that was completely at odds with everything to that point. …