England have not won a World Cup since 1966, and by the time the 2030 tournament kicks off in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, the wait will have lasted sixty-four years. No national team with so much talent has waited so long, yet the generation heading to the centenary tournament might finally be the one. Jude Bellingham will be at the peak of his powers, the young players who grew up alongside him will have major tournament experience, and the squad will have two full tournament cycles behind it. The question is no longer whether England have the players, but whether they can finally win the matches that matter.

The Bellingham generation

The heart of the England project is a generation of midfielders and attackers who grew up together in academies and Europe's biggest clubs. Bellingham is the symbol, but around him is a group of players who will be twenty-six or twenty-seven in 2030, with hundreds of top-level matches behind them. The Premier League keeps producing talent, and the national team can pick from several strong options in every position, a luxury few rivals can afford.

This generation's strength is versatility: midfielders who can defend and attack, wingers who switch flanks, and forwards who work for the team. The England of 2030 will not depend on one player, and that is a huge change from the past, when everything ran through a single star and his injury ended the campaign. The depth of the squad will let the manager change games from the bench, a decisive quality in a seven-match tournament.

The problem of the big matches

Talent has never been England's problem: winning semi-finals and finals has. The national team has lost European finals and World Cup semi-finals to weaker sides on paper, and the problem looks more mental than technical. In 2030 the pressure will be even greater, because playing in Europe, close to home, will bring tens of thousands of English fans to every match.

Breaking the curse will need a different approach to decisive moments: penalties practised like a routine, brave substitutions, and a plan B when a match gets complicated. The lesson of recent defeats is that talent alone is not enough: a team needs to know how to suffer and win even while playing badly, and that is a quality great champions build through experience.

Who will lead the team in 2030

The manager who takes England to 2030 will have to manage a group of stars used to being the main men at their clubs. The most likely choice is a coach who already knows the environment and can handle the pressure of the English media, the most demanding in the world. His job will not be teaching these players football, but building a group, choosing leaders, and making unpopular decisions when they are needed.

An open question is the captaincy: in 2030 England will need a leader recognised by everyone, on and off the pitch. The armband should go to the player who can speak to the team in difficult moments and handle the press, not simply to the most talented player. England have learned that a united group is worth more than eleven talents thrown together at random.

The road and the rivals

England's group will only be known at the draw, but the national team will be among the top seeds and will face a demanding route from the round of 32 onwards. The most dangerous rivals will be the usual ones: Spain, the defending champions playing at home, France, Argentina and Brazil, all teams that know how to win World Cups. England will have to beat at least two of them to reach the final.

Playing in Europe is a huge advantage: fans close by, familiar time zones, and stadiums full of English supporters. But it is also a risk, because expectations will become unbearable if the team starts badly. The 2030 tournament is the last chance for this generation, and everyone knows it: win now, or the cycle closes without the trophy that sixty-four years of waiting deserve.

England have the talent, the experience and the right moment to win World Cup 2030. The Bellingham generation will not get another chance like this: if they can win the matches that matter, sixty-four years of waiting will end in Spain, Portugal or Morocco.