Big Dan Burn, the Colossus of Blyth, is in exalted company at the World Cup.
He’s a player whose ability has been underestimated throughout a career that has taken him from Newcastle United reject as a schoolboy to a place in the quarter-finals of the biggest international tournament on the planet.
He has been written off almost as frequently as the Formula One cars James “Hunt the Shunt” crashed into the barriers on his way to a world title 50 years ago.
I paid tribute to the former supermarket trolley stacker 16 months ago, just after we won the League Cup.
Since then, the story has moved on. He has now earned nine England caps, including one for his pivotal role in the heart-stopping victory in the Azteca on Monday morning.
When Tommy Tuchel announced his first squad in March 2025, the choice of Burn was greeted with surprise and some bemusement. Who’s puzzled now?
Against Mexico, with England down to 10 men and clinging to a 3-2 lead, Tuchel turned to a player in whom he has total trust. BDB repaid the manager’s faith in spades.
He was on the pitch for less than 30 minutes but he stood as tall as St Mary’s Lighthouse to repel wave after wave of aerial attacks. No player made more clearances in the entire match. His total of six was a record for a substitute introduced that late at a World Cup tournament since records began in 1966. Remind me, what happened that year?
I’ve scoured the internet to find a few words of praise or encouragement from the mother of Harry Maguire, who was extremely keen to give her educated opinion on the exclusion from the squad of her boy Harry. No joy so far, so let’s hear from the man who put his body on the line in Mexico City.
“I knew what was expected from me,” Burn said. “With my height, it would be defending shots, blocking crosses and just trying to grind it out.”
Nobody could have done it better.
“I knew that I was being brought [to the World Cup] for a certain reason. I probably wasn’t going to start, but there was going to be opportunities in the game where we’re trying to see a game out or maybe go for a goal that I was going to get it.
“I’ve been desperate to get on the pitch. I’m very proud to have played for England at a World Cup. I never thought I’d be saying that when I first started playing football.”
The tournament was first held in 1930, though it was ignored by the Football Association until the fourth edition in 1950.
Daniel Johnson Burn was born on May 9, 1992, which makes him 34 years and two months. Can you name an older World Cup debutant in an England shirt?
Another internet trawl threw up just the one. The man in question made his international debut in 1934. He would undoubtedly have performed on football’s biggest stage long before the age of 35 if the Second World War had not caused a 12-year hiatus. He was Stanley Matthews and played just the one game at the 1950 finals, a 1-0 defeat by Spain at the Maracana. The Wizard of Dribble went on to play twice at the 1954 tournament. In total, just the three World Cup appearances by one of the greatest footballers the world has seen.
England’s management resisted a press campaign for his inclusion in the 1958 squad. A bit of a shame, because at 43 he would have been giving Pele a mere 26 years . . .
Back to the present and England’s quarter-final on Saturday night in Miami. Nice.
Having silenced any remaining doubters with his steadfast play against Mexico, the Big Man from Blyth must be hoping for another chance. He will not, of course, be rocking the boat. He will be England’s loudest cheerleader, if Tuchel decides to look elsewhere.
Reece James is said to be fit after missing the final group-stage match and the first two knockout rounds. He would be the obvious replacement for the suspended Jarell Quansah, who is anyway more of a centre-half than a right-back.
John Stones and Ezri Konsa did a good job but there is no denying they looked more solid when Tuchel switched to a back five once Burn took the field on 75 minutes. A 5-3-1 is not something the manager will want to see again; neither will the fans. With luck, it was a one-off.
Why, though, should Dan Burn have made his one and only World Cup appearance?
Norway will be doughty opponents on Saturday, with the Scariest Viking leading their attack. Stop Erling Haaland and the semi-finals beckon. Brazil tried and failed. Gabriel Magalhaes was intimidated, monstered and eventually rendered impotent.
Ever since this tournament started, I’ve been beating the drum, in true Norwegian style, for BDB, partly because the laissez-faire officiating is right up his street.
Haaland has scored just the one goal in all his blood-and-thunder battles against Newcastle United when playing against Burn (who actually played left-back in that August 2022 SJP 3-3 clash, Schar and Botman the centre-backs).
Right now, right here, I would make the Colossus of Blyth first choice in central defence for England.