By our reporter 24.26.2026
England midfielder Jude Bellingham was seen exchanging hot words with the Black Stars of Ghana coach during their 2026 FIFA World Cup group L tie on Tuesday night in Boston, USA.
During halftime Bellingham was seen arguing with Ghana’s assistant coach John Paintsil and then later approached Carlos Queiroz. This came after Bellingham fouled Jerome Opoku and the Ghanaian bench thought he should have been given the marching orders by Honduran referee Said Martinez.
Speaking on the incident Bellingham said: “It was just when I made a silly tackle, to be honest.
“I was trying to try to win the ball, and I followed through a little bit and caught the lad. I spoke to him after, and then their bench jumped up trying to get me a yellow card.
“I think their manager, I just recognised him. He’s obviously the one who used to be at Manchester United [in two spells as Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant], so great respect, and nothing but a competitive edge for both of us.”
Queiroz, meanwhile, insisted that Bellingham’s swearing ramped up the confrontation, also claiming that England’s No10 could have been sent off for the challenge on Opoku.
“First, my intention was to tell him to cool down with that tackle that he did,” Queiroz said.
“It could be a second yellow card or red card, it was clear because he went [with] his foot against our player. But my first role was to cool down because I was worried that the player was not 100 per cent out.
“He had a bad reaction with some bad names and that’s why the story started.”
“In the middle of the emotional moment, these things are normal. He swears and that created more tension.
“It’s football, it’s nothing special. One word created a bit of fire but we cooled down. Football is not dancing in a saloon with tuxedos. It’s not a show.”