Jude Bellingham is now showing his “full potential” as he reaches a landmark for England.That is the view of Thomas Tuchel who says the connection between Bellingham and Harry Kane could be England’s path to World Cup glory.Bellingham is set to win his 50th cap against Ghana, which is a staggering achievement bearing in mind he only turns 23 on June 29.Real Madrid star Bellingham was sensational against Croatia and his link-up with Kane was highlighted by FIFA’s technical study group because of their understanding. Bellingham was singled out by FIFA analyst Paolo Wanchope for being “very intelligent” and Kane’s ability to drop deep was something “not ever seen before” when it came to their movement.‌England clearly have two of their best players in the world right now - and Tuchel praised how they have come together and how it has got the best out of Bellingham.Get the latest World Cup 2026 news in your inbox with our Make Football Great Again newsletterTuchel said Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson were also important but, most tellingly, he also praised the way Bellingham bought into the team ethic which may just destroy any notion of any lingering doubts. Three Lions boss Tuchel said: “In general I saw a strong team performance, I saw the full potential of Jude and the full commitment.“There is no doubt that a game and competition like this brings out the best in him but it needed improvement, the connection between Jude and Harry, the connection between Jude and Declan and Elliot, it needs improvement and needed improvement and it's a big step.‌“Jude played fully into our idea and was fully committed to the team idea and team spirit and to play in full cohesion with everyone else. He was very important, super reliable.”England really came good against Croatia and, in the second half, they produced a performance to match against anything seen so far at this World Cup. But Tuchel admitted the “tricky part” is to make sure they can do that from the start against Ghana, rather than need a gee-up after a sloppy first half as they did against Croatia.Tuchel said: “That is a tricky part, to keep the level up but first of all, I am very happy because we found an answer to adversity. We conceded in a very tricky moment, last shot of the first half and then came up with the best 25 minutes, or best 30 minutes as an answer when we were very, very strong. The team knows that and we showed that.‌“We have, of course, we saw the physical input, we saw the ball wins, we saw the chances and we still have stuff to improve. I think it is important to learn from all that and the beautiful thing is that the things that were not so good we do not need to amend anything new, we just need to do our stuff better from the first half.“Now the problem is that we expect a completely different opponent and style of play. I expect more ball possession. I expect Ghana to rely on counter-attacks because they are very physical, very fast and dangerous in counter-attacks.“There will be different topics to take care about without losing our momentum, without losing our passion. And still have the spirit and that we are courageous enough to go for it.”‌But Tuchel insisted that there is still major room for improvement, especially defensively. They shipped two goals and looked rusty and nervous against Croatia. That has been the target to iron out since then in training and Tuchel even claimed conceding goals against Croatia may have been a blessing in disguise.Tuchel added: “We need to do things better. I think defensively we dropped a little too deep from a middle block into a low block and deep block, which is, in itself, not a problem, but we went a bit too early. Maybe it is good that we conceded, because it just tells us ‘let’s not do this again’. It makes no sense, it’s not us, it doesn’t play to our strengths.“So we need to manage these ball wins better. And in ball possession there is also stuff to improve. When do we accelerate the game, and how do we give the man on the ball more options in the gaps and show a bit more confidence into what makes us strong?“That’s the beauty of it: we don’t need to invent anything new. Of course, there are things to improve and the team knows it. There will always be things to improve in any match. But I was also very clear to the team: we deserved this win.‌“We had a well-deserved win against a top-ten opponent [Croatia were 11th when England played them] of the World Cup. And we have a lot of positives to take away, and I expect a very different team and a very different set-up now. And we need to improve especially our structure with the ball to be ready to defend counter-attacks before they become dangerous.”Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.