Jude Bellingham was once again England’s hero, scoring twice as the Three Lions came from behind to end Norway’s historic run and booked their place in the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 victory in extra time.
On Saturday, in the scorching Miami heat, Andreas Schjelderup led Norway to a shock lead in the first-ever quarter-finals.
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But Bellingham produced a magical moment to equalize just before halftime with a double in a memorable 3-2 win over Mexico in the last 16.
Norway had a controversial second goal ruled out after a VAR review of Erling Haaland’s foul in the second half as players from both teams reached their physical limits going into extra time.
Bellingham capitalized on a mistake by Orjan Nyland to score his sixth goal of the tournament, marking another big moment for the winners.
England will face either Argentina or Switzerland on Wednesday for a chance to reach their first World Cup final in 60 years.
Haaland’s incredible scoring run in his last 14 competitive matches for Norway came to an end against the land of his birth, with Norway’s exhausted talisman being substituted at half-time of extra time.
England were unable to win the World Cup finals, having conceded for the first time since the 1966 final, and now have conceded twice in three games.
heat that steals energy
Harry Kane’s heroics prevented an embarrassing early exit to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 32.
But despite a far from perfect performance, it is Bellingham who has stepped up in the past two games to end England’s long wait for major glory.
Kickoff took place in Florida at 5pm local time (9pm GMT), but the temperature remained above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) throughout, and the humidity was intense, making conditions exhausting for the players.
It was so hot that it threatened to spoil the scenery in the first half.
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made a low save from Martin Odegaard to unsettle Thomas Tuchel’s side, but Alexander Souros squandered a bright chance when he failed to feed Haaland and then went for the goal himself.
Almost immediately, Bellingham pulled his team out of the mud once again.
Bellingham was well marshalled before collecting Anthony Gordon’s pass, darting into the box and smashing home with a weak left foot.
The momentum suddenly shifted in England’s favor and they almost went into a break.
This time Bellingham was the creator for Kane, calmly sinking the ball to Nyland, who just deflected offside.
Tuchel brought on Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze during the break to replace the ineffective Noni Maduke and Declan Rice. The Arsenal midfielder suffered from illness earlier this week.
However, these changes made England lighter in midfield and they struggled in the second half.
Torbjorn Heggem made the most of sloppy defending and fired a shot at the back post, but the goal was disallowed as Haaland was penalized for pushing his new Manchester City team-mate Elliott Anderson before getting a corner.
Norway came very close to winning once again when Christopher Ajer hit the bar after England missed another dangerous corner kick.
Both teams visibly deflated in the energy-sapping conditions of the second half, but were forced to endure for another 30 minutes.
Nyland made a number of saves as Norway’s helper in their last 16 match against Brazil, with Haaland scoring twice in the second half to seal the breakthrough victory.
This time Sevilla’s goalkeeper was the villain, spilling a long-range shot from substitute Morgan Rogers, allowing Bellingham to pounce and score.
England were awarded a penalty moments later, but this time VAR intervened in favor of Norway, deeming Jed Spence to have initiated contact in the box.
But Norway’s spirit had already been shattered, symbolized by Haaland’s stoop watching from the bench without giving anything further.
Tuchel said his team was “lucky” to get the win.
“We made life very difficult for ourselves today. The result is great. We’re in the top four, which is great, but I’m not happy with the performance,” he told ITV.
“The commitment is there, but we made it difficult for ourselves with the way we played. We were sloppy, we made a lot of technical mistakes, we didn’t have enough speed, we didn’t have enough repetition. We were lucky today.”
“The important thing is quality. We need to play better. We will be better (in the semi-finals). We need to do that.”
