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All together now, with arms in the air: One Jude Bellingham, there’s only one Jude Bellingham …
Unless, that is, you happened to find yourself in Shoreditch, east London, on Wednesday, where a dozen young men who looked vaguely like the England midfielder gathered for a lookalike contest almost as competitive as the one currently continuing in the US.
For England football fans who dream of cloning their rampaging match-winner, the event might have offered a glimpse of a fantastical future. Bellingham has scored six goals in as many games in the competition, and another one of him in England’s midfield would surely not go amiss.
For everyone else, just hours before England were due to face Argentina in the semi-finals in Atlanta, it offered a glitchy megaphone, a scrum of influencers with cameraphones and an opportunity to kill some time before they decamped to the pub for an evening of stress and alcohol.
The prize for the Jude-iest Jude? Not, this time, a gold trophy of two figures holding the globe, but a Deliveroo voucher to the value of £۱,۹۶۶ – an always-welcome reminder of the six long decades since England last got its hands on the World Cup.
Could this year be any different? The Bellinghams were bullish. “Yeah of course. Come on England. It’s coming home,” said ۱۹-year-old Zane Proctor, a Manchester university student who had found out about the event on Instagram. “I was in the local area and thought, why not?”
He probably wasn’t the closest doppelganger, he admitted, but as a big Bellingham fan had wanted to take part. “I feel like he’s a really good idol,” he said. “He is criticised a lot by the media, and I feel like his response to the media is very inspirational for young and upcoming players. So beyond the football, beyond all the goals, I feel he is a really good ambassador for all the young people who look like me, and not even that look like me, to all the young kids that watch on TV. I feel like he is a really good person to look to.”
Despite being repeatedly complimented on his resemblance to the player during the month he has spent studying in Britain, Gabriel Mian, ۲۰, from Orlando, had stumbled across the event by accident. “I had to come to the station anyway, and some people told me I had to go [to the competition],” said Mian, who is staying in nearby Brick Lane. “So I just walked up and now l am here, I guess.”
Bellingham, of course, might be said to have his own near doppelganger already in the form of his ۲۰-year-old younger brother Jobe. He has replicated his career closely – having already played for Birmingham City, Borussia Dortmund and England’s Under ۱۶s, like Jude – and even uses his first name rather than surname on his shirt to avoid confusion with his older brother.
Jobe Bellingham, alas, was not available in Shoreditch on Wednesday. Instead, ۲۴-year-old Marcus Legemah, a master’s student at University College London, was awarded the lookalike crown by popular acclaim, or at least a half-hearted cheer.
Is he often told he looks like Bellingham? “Yeah, but it’s normally just drunk people in the pub,” he said. “More since Jude has been playing well. So this tournament, it’s happened.”
He was given his prize by “our very own Erling Haaland lookalike” – a bloke with blond hair in a pony tail – to a few optimistic cries of “Kiss! Kiss!”, referencing the real life pair’s affectionate friendship.
What was the characteristic he most closely shared with Bellingham? “Sadly, apart from looks I don’t think there’s much,” said Legemah. The victory, nonetheless, “means everything”, he said. “I’m so excited. Now I can can celebrate the final with some friends, with pizzas and beer.”
As for who will win the World Cup, however, he has confidence worthy of England’s No ۱۰. “I think we are going to win. You have to have the confidence. I think it’s coming home.”
