England fans almost missed a Jude Bellingham goal against DR Congo, due to BBC’s coverage cutting out momentarily.
Viewers watching in the UK have complained on social media that the channel temporarily went down during the World Cup round of 32 match, with screens going black.
During the few seconds that the service was down, Bellingham went close to an equaliser as his cross took a deflection which wrong-footed DR Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi.
Fortunately though, viewers did not miss a goal as the cross was superbly palmed away by Mpasi before Axel Tuanzebe hacked the ball away to complete the clearance.
Nevertheless, supporters were not pleased with the outage and let it be known on X, formerly Twitter.
Well we missed that...black screen on BBC as England went close #FifaWorldCup
— Andrew Webb (@THENUNEATONFOX) July 1, 2026
paying your tv licence just for bbc to glitch and turn black😭😭
— S☞ | 🇫🇷🇵🇹🇧🇷🏴🇲🇦🇮🇶 (@itssofiiaaa) July 1, 2026
LMAO.. BBC ask for licence fee, they then show one of Englands important matches & glitches to a black screen
— Andy Rossiter (@andy_rossiter76) July 1, 2026
Where’s the money going to as it’s not the technology department
Just after the hour mark, England head coach Thomas Tuchel decided change both wingers, bringing on Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon replace Noni Madueke and Marcus Rashford in search of a goal to get back on level terms.
"We expect a 5-3-2 formation, sometimes five-diamond formation especially with the ball,” Tuchel said of DR Congo’s gameplan before kick-off.
"Compact block, disciplined defending, change between high press and low block, very disciplined, very dangerous in counterattacks, very direct, not shy to play long balls, make it a running game, make it a game of second balls.
"A team that didn't allow a lot of chances against Colombia (0-1) and Portugal (1-1). They have the capacity to make life difficult for everyone."
Should England turn the game around, they will face co-hosts Mexico in the last-16 at the formidable Estadio Azteca after they easily brushed aside Ecuador in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
