How link between Bellingham and Kane has unlocked England’s stodgy attack

Thomas Tuchel faces an attacking conundrum. England have to extract the maximum output from Harry Kane while getting other players to contribute more. Jude Bellingham ’s performance against Panama showed how both sides of this equation can be solved. Kane has scored 13 goals in Tuchel’s 17 England matches, with no other player contributing more than three. He scored a penalty and a header from a corner against Croatia , then blazed over the bar from a rebound in the Ghana match . There was little of note created for him in open play. A centre-forward usually receives fewer passes than their teammates (though Kane often tries to correct this by dropping deep), but the issue for England has been which of their players have been delivering the ball to their No 9 in this tournament. It has too rarely been who they would have hoped. Jordan Pickford played the joint-most passes to Kane in the opening match, with three, before Marc Guéhi led the way with the same tally in the second game. Three players played four to him against Panama, though Bellingham needed just two to prove quality trumps quantity. Chart showing passes to Kane and chances created for Kane by England players at the 2026 World Cup It feels surprising that the Real Madrid midfielder and Kane have not linked up more for the national team. …