Thomas Tuchel believes he saw the “full potential” of Jude Bellingham in England’s World Cup opener against Croatia.Bellingham scored England’s third goal of the 4-2 win in Dallas, as part of an all-action performance that leaves him in top form going into their second game against Ghana on Tuesday. The Real Madrid man had been in tight competition with Morgan Rogers to start in Dallas, with the two close friends alternating starts in the Florida warm-up camp, but Bellingham now appears to be the first choice No 10.Tuchel is thrilled to have the best version of Bellingham now playing for England, after a difficult season in which the 22-year-old’s place has been far from guaranteed — he was not even selected in the England squad last October. But Tuchel said how pleased he was to see Bellingham totally bought into his England team, “fully committed to the team idea”.“In general, I saw a strong team performance, I saw the full potential of Jude and the full commitment,” Tuchel said of the Croatia win. “There is no doubt that a game and competition like this brings out the best in him.”The challenge, Tuchel said, is for the connections between Bellingham and Harry Kane, and between the midfield of Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson, to keep improving. “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 was a big step,” Tuchel said.“Because Jude played fully into our idea, and he was fully committed to the team idea, and team spirit and to play in full cohesion with everyone else. Which was very important, he was super reliable, and had a top performance.”Tuchel expects a very different game against Ghana but has backed the players to keep pushing each other to improve. “Now, the problem is that we expect a completely different opponent and style of play,” Tuchel said. “I expect more ball possession. I expect Ghana to rely on counterattacks 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.”The commitment of the players who did not start in Dallas, who took part in a training game against MLS side Sporting KC the day after the Croatia match, will be integral to England’s performance in Boston. “The players keep themselves on edge,” Tuchel added. “The guys who did not get the minutes from the beginning are pushing, but we try to make sure in training exercises that everyone is pushing but that is the mentality. That is why I love the team anyway.“The build of the training session was yesterday to grow into this week and today was very tense and on a high level. It is our job to not be complacent and say ‘ok, everything is done now,’ the players know that hard work is needed and it will always be a mix but at the moment I cannot see any signs of complacency.”Tuchel has a full squad to choose from going into Tuesday’s game. The only injury doubt had been Bukayo Saka, who did not take part in full training on Saturday but rejoined the group after that.Tuchel, speaking at his pre-match press conference at Foxboro on Monday evening, said that the Arsenal attacker “feels no more pain”.“Everyone is available, everyone is training,” Tuchel said. “Bukayo is getting better and better, more and more free in his movements, he feels no more pain, he was able to do both of our training sessions in the last two days on the highest level, he’s ready to go — without telling you if he will start or come from the bench.”Jun 22, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms