For half an hour against Serbia the world seemed to belong to Jude Bellingham.
As England started their opening game of Euro 2024 brightly in Gelsenkirchen, Bellingham arrived late in the penalty area to thunder a header into the net for England's first goal of a tournament many fancied them to win.
As he stood with his arms outstretched in front of the England supporters, it seemed as though the 20-year-old Real Madrid star was about to take hold of this summer of sport. It's a look we have grown used to as Bellingham's star has risen with club and with country over the last couple of years.
Two-and-a-half games later, however, and everything feels a little different. England's early promise has withered to emptiness and their young dynamo is no longer reaching for the stars, only relevance.
As Gareth Southgate's England team have frozen on the big stage, Bellingham's frustrations have been clear and his response to them has on occasion been less than impressive.
Late in the first half against Slovenia in Cologne, he saw an opportunity to intercept a pass from an opponent. He moved to do so but didn't get there in time. His response was to throw his arms in the air in the direction of a team-mate and then turn round and look at Southgate and his assistant Steve Holland standing on the sidelines. What he expected them to do or say, maybe only he knows.
Soon after that, Bellingham was visibly unhappy again. On this occasion it looked as though Kieran Trippier may have been the target of some choice words. In truth, it wasn't clear. There have been other examples during three largely forgettable games in Group C and there has been some petulance towards opponents too. Against Denmark he pushed out at a rival as he ran by him. Against Slovenia, he shoved a marker unnecessarily to the ground by the byline. All rather ugly. All rather unnecessary.
Such frustration is understandable. Bellingham wants to win just as much as anybody else in Southgate's under-performing squad. But having been promoted to Southgate's leadership group - along with Harry Kane, Kyle Walker and Declan Rice - on the eve of this tournament, he needs to realise quickly that this behaviour and countenance is not part of the remit.
It would be harder to ignore if Bellingham was playing to his levels. But he isn't. In fact he is nowhere near. He was exceptional for that opening 30 minutes in the first game but then seemed to run out of energy and purpose. Southgate intimated afterwards that perhaps the adrenaline and emotion of the occasion had affected him.
Since then, however, his football has been way below his usual standards. There was a lovely pass through to Ollie Watkins late on in England's draw with Denmark but apart from that the harder Bellingham has tried to influence games, the more he has only managed to do so in entirely the wrong way.
There have been doubts about Bellingham's positional discipline for a while and that issue has been strikingly apparent here.
He is so deeply talented and indeed so seemingly aware of it that he is a young footballer who seems to try and win games on his own. Where the ball goes, he goes. It's as though he feels it has his name on it. That may work in the playground where you are bigger and better than all the other boys. But it doesn't work on the international stage and England – who desperately need shape and structure - are suffering because of it.
As England move forward as wholly unconvincing group winners to a last-16 tie back in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday, there is an argument for Bellingham to be replaced. That would have been unthinkable just a fortnight ago.
But Cole Palmer in particular did enough as a substitute on Tuesday to suggest he is worth a place in the team this weekend. There is also a clamour for Anthony Gordon. It feels as though something has to give and one solution would be to move Phil Foden into Bellingham's No 10 role to free up at least one spot out on the left side. That central position, of course, is Foden's preferred one and the role he has played to such great affect at times for Manchester City.
Bellingham is incredibly gifted. It seems certain that he will be the driving force of the England team for years to come, in all likelihood under a new manager. Along with Rice, he is joint favourite to eventually replace Kane as captain.
But right now he is threatening to drag this team in the wrong direction. When things are going badly on a football field, teams need unity and respect on which to fall back and rely. Bellingham, with his mannerisms and demeanour of perpetual irritation and disappointment, threatens to undermine that.
Southgate is not blind to the issue, either. Asked about it as he stood by the team bus late on Tuesday night, the England manager sought to dodge the subject.
'It's about the team,' he said.
'We have to play as a team at all times and some days the space will be where there is more opportunity for our wingers, as Slovenia defended narrow.
'For everyone else you have to focus on individuals but for me it is about the team functioning and we were closer to where we want to be in this game.'
But when it was subsequently suggested Bellingham cannot afford to grow frustrated, Southgate changed tack.
'I will have those messages with him rather than plaster them over the papers,' he said.
Southgate's stance is entirely understandable. It serves no purpose for him to go deep into a debate about the form and application of his most gifted player. He needs him on board, after all.
Equally, he has a decision to make. Take all the players' names off their shirts and choose a couple who are at risk when it comes to selection this weekend and the No 10 would be among them.
Too often Bellingham hasn't shown the required patience needed to affect the game in the right way. He hasn't waited for his moment. He has gone looking for it and when you do that - no matter how good you are - the chances are you will never find it.
Bellingham came into this tournament as a LaLiga and Champions League winner. He was the young buck we hoped would bulldoze England to glory. Three games in and he has simply been sucked down into England's stinking quagmire of mediocrity.
What's more, he stands accused of making it all worse and if Southgate so much as suspects that then he must be prepared to take his best player out of this team this weekend. England have already reached that stick or twist stage at which there is absolutely nothing left to lose.