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Ngumoha "speechless" after England debut as Bellingham hails a future Liverpool star

ยทBy Paul Lindisfarne
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Ngumoha "speechless" after England debut as Bellingham hails a future Liverpool star

Liverpool/X.com

Rio Ngumoha made a striking impression on his England debut, coming off the bench at half-time to provide genuine attacking threat in the 1-0 warm-up victory over New Zealand in Tampa.

Jude Bellingham presented him with his first cap, describing a player with a "really bright future".

The 17-year-old Liverpool winger replaced Ollie Watkins at the interval and, despite not being in Thomas Tuchel's 26-man World Cup squad, immediately gave England greater dynamism on the right flank. He is one of four additional squad members called up for the pre-tournament friendlies alongside Bournemouth's Alex Scott, Fulham's Josh King and Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri.

Bellingham presented Ngumoha with his cap in a video shared on England's official social media channels.

"Congratulations on an amazing debut. I think we all enjoyed watching it, and obviously you're going to have a really bright future at your club and hopefully with us as well. It's a pleasure to give it to you because I know there'll be so many more. Congratulations."

Ngumoha's response was unaffected.

"Thank you everyone. I'm happy. I'm speechless! I just want to say thank you. We keep going!"

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was equally effusive in his assessment.

"He was quality, nothing fazed him. He's had a really good season at Liverpool and the manager gave him his debut and he showed how good he is. All the young lads have been brilliant in training, they have moulded into the squad and helped us massively. It also shows the talent we have in the system."

Ngumoha cannot be promoted to the World Cup squad itself โ€” he was not included in Tuchel's 55-man provisional list submitted to FIFA in May, though Alex Scott is the one additional squad member who was. Bayern Munchen have made enquiries about the teenager, though Liverpool regard him as not available at any price.