Borussia Dortmund and England midfielder Jude Bellingham said on Thursday he still thinks about what he could have done better to prevent England’s World Cup elimination.
England was knocked out in the quarterfinals against eventual runner-up France, losing 2-1 after captain Harry Kane missed a late penalty.
Speaking to Dortmund’s website from the club’s winter training camp in Spain, Bellingham, whose passes led to both of England’s penalties in the match, said he still wonders what might have been.
“I still think about the game at times. There was an instance in training (with Dortmund) where I had a shot and I thought that was just like the one that I had in the France game,” Bellingham, 19, said.
“And if I put it more to the left, would we have gone through?
“I was involved in the first penalty where I flicked it to Bukayo. And the second one, when I put the pass behind to Mason.
“And I always think, what if I’d just put it on Mason’s toe and he went and scored, and then there would have been no second penalty.
“You overthink things, but I think you come to terms with it quickly because you can’t change it whether you like it or not.”
Bellingham however said he could not be disappointed with the side’s strong performance at the competition as they continue to search for a first major trophy since 1966.
“Then you’re on the plane home and you think, we gave everything,” he said.
“We had a tournament that the country can be proud of. We put up a really strong fight against one of the best teams in the world.
“We went out narrowly and you learn to kind of use it as ammunition for the next ones.
“Had we beaten France and gone through, who knows what can happen, but it’s all ifs now.”
Bellingham, who at one point was the only Dortmund player to have featured every minute for the side this season, said he was tired after the World Cup but he was hungry for the season to start again.
“After the World Cup, I was just drained physically. And I said to myself, I want to have a nice long rest,” he said.
“But then about two weeks into it, I thought, nah, nah, I need to go back in and get to work and finally be back.
“It’s really hard when you’ve got all the other leagues playing and you’re watching on TV and just think, I can’t wait to get back to it.”
Borussia Dortmund, which sits in sixth place in the Bundesliga, restarts its season on January 22 at home against Augsburg.
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