Anderson ran 14.8km in Miami heat and England noticed

Elliot Anderson looked absolutely shattered. The Manchester City midfielder had just finished extra time against Norway in the kind of humidity that makes you question all your life choices, and he was honest about it: "It was so tough. So tough."

He'd covered more ground than anyone else on the pitch. 14.8 kilometers. Even Harry Kane, his captain, hadn't matched that. Anderson spent the match shifting between at least four different positions as Thomas Tuchel rearranged the midfield after Declan Rice came off at halftime nursing both an injury and illness.

"I was cramping up a few times in extra time," Anderson said after the win. "But the fighting spirit that the lads have is amazing to be part of. The fans should be proud of the amount of fight and determination we showed."

It wasn't the flashiest performance. Jude Bellingham got the headlines—he always does. But for Anderson, a Wallsend lad who came through the same academy that produced Alan Shearer and Michael Carrick, this might've been his best showing since stepping up from the under-21s last summer. Not bad for a player still finding his feet at international level.

Tuchel kept shuffling things around, trying to find the right balance. Rice's absence forced changes. Anderson just kept moving, kept covering space, kept doing the grunt work that doesn't always make the match reports but absolutely shows up in the stats. Fourteen kilometers-plus in Miami. In that heat. While cramping up. That's the kind of shift that wins tournaments.