Jude Bellingham has been named in Thomas Tuchel’s starting XI as England take on Argentina in tonight’s World Cup semi-final in Atlanta.
According to a fresh update from Sky Sports, Declan Rice has overcome the stomach illness that restricted him to 45 minutes against Norway and is fit to start alongside the Real Madrid midfielder, easing the injury and fatigue concerns that had been building around Tuchel’s squad heading into the biggest game of the tournament so far.
Thomas Tuchel Names Full-Strength XI To Face Lionel Messi
Tuchel’s confirmed line-up reads: Pickford; James, Stones, Guehi, Spence; Rice, Anderson; Rogers, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane, with Morgan Rogers handed a start in behind Harry Kane. Jordan Henderson remains out with a broken wrist and Jarell Quansah is suspended, but otherwise Tuchel has closer to a full squad to choose from than at any other point since the Real Madrid midfielder helped drag England to this stage of the competition.
Bellingham arrives at Atlanta Stadium as the joint top scorer of the tournament with six goals, level with Kane, having struck twice in the quarter-final win over Norway and twice more in the last-16 victory over Mexico. Argentina, unbeaten through the knockout rounds against Switzerland, Egypt and Cape Verde, will lean on Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez in attack, with Giuliano Simeone coming in for Rodrigo De Paul in Argentina’s only change.
Kick-off is at 8pm BST, with the winner facing Spain in Sunday’s final after Luis de la Fuente’s side saw off France 2-0 on Tuesday — a semi-final that also carried heavy Real Madrid interest through Kylian Mbappe and Marc Cucurella. For Bellingham, victory tonight would take England to their first World Cup final since 1966.
