* Jude Bellingham scores twice to beat Erling Haaland’s Norway 2-1 as Argentina saw off Switzerland 3-1 in the other quarterfinal last night
* England reach into the FIFA World Cup™ semifinals for first-time since 2018 and have the chance to reach a first final in 60 years against Argentina on Wednesday, July 15
Maravi Express
Jude Bellingham was England’s hero once more by scoring twice as the Three Lions came from behind to end Erling Haaland’s Norway’s historic run and reach the World Cup semifinals with a 2-1 win after extra time.
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They book a date against defending champions Argentina who beat 10-man Switzerland 3-1 also after extra time thanks to a decisive long-range effort by Julian Alvarez.
England reached into the FIFA World Cup™ semifinals for first-time since 2018 and have the chance to reach their first final in 60 years against Argentina on Wednesday, July 15.
In their first-ever quarterfinal, Andreas Schjelderup fired Norway into a shock lead in the searing Miami heat but Bellingham, who also netted a double in a memorable 3-2 over Mexico in the last 16, produced a moment of magic to equalise just before half-time.
Norway had a second goal controversially disallowed after a VAR review in the second half for a foul by Erling Haaland as both sets of players were pushed to their physical limits by going to extra-time.
Bellingham came up with another big moment for the winner as he pounced on an error by Orjan Nyland to sweep in his sixth goal of the tournament.
Haaland’s spectacular run of scoring in his last 14 competitive matches for Norway came to an end against the land of his birth, with Norway’s exhausted talisman replaced at half-time of extra-time.
Having failed to win a World Cup knockout game after conceding first since the final of 1966 before this tournament, England have now done so twice in three matches.
Harry Kane’s heroics prevented an embarrassing early exit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last 32 — but it is Bellingham who has stood up in the past two matches to keep England in the hunt to end their long wait for major tournament glory despite far from flawless performances.
Thomas Tuchel’s men were rattled as England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saved low from Martin Odegaard before Alexander Sorloth wasted a glorious chance when he failed to feed Haaland and instead went for goal himself.
Almost immediately, Bellingham pulled his team out of the mire once more after been been well marshalled until he collected Anthony Gordon’s pass and burst into the box at speed and then slotted home on his weaker left foot.
Momentum was suddenly in England’s favour and they nearly went into the break ahead. Bellingham was this time the creator for Kane, who dinked the ball coolly over Nyland, but had just drifted offside.
Tuchel introduced Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze at the break for the ineffective Noni Madueke and Declan Rice – the Arsenal midfielder had been suffering with illness earlier in the week.
But those changes left England light in midfield, and they were left hanging on at spells in the second half. Torbjorn Heggem made the most of some sloppy defending to turn in at the back post, but Haaland was penalised for a push on new Manchester City teammate Elliott Anderson before the corner had been taken, and the goal was disallowed.
Norway were inches away from a winner again when Kristoffer Ajer hit the bar after England failed to deal with another dangerous corner.
Tuchel said his side was “lucky” to emerge with the win: “We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today. The result is fantastic,” he told ITV.
“We are in the last four. It’s amazing but not happy with the performance. The commitment is there, but we made life difficult for ourselves in the way we played – sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky today.”
Meanwhile, the defending champions Argentina took the lead when Alexis Mac Allister headed in a 10th-minute cross by Lionel Messi — but it was far from the dominant display that the South Americans would have hoped for thereafter, and the Europeans deservedly levelled in the 67th minute when Dan Ndoye slotted home from close range.
The Swiss controversially lost to a second yellow in the 72nd minute for simulation. VAR had to intervene, however, to request the referee to review whether the booking given to Argentina’s Leandro Paredes was a case of mistaken identity – a new VAR rule for this tournament.
Embolo appeared to dive to win the free kick and Portuguese referee Joao Pinheiro changed his decision, which resulted in an inconsolable Embolo given his marching orders.
Breel Embolo remonstrates after he is shown a second yellow card by referee Joao Pinheiro following a VAR review
Argentina pressed for the winner in normal time and nearly found their reward with virtually the last kick of the period when Lisandro Martinez flung himself at a loose ball in the box, but his scissor-kick didn’t have the power to beat the keeper.
Messi had himself come close when through, one-on-one, but his chip was saved. The referee’s assistant raised his flag to suggest the effort would have been offside anyway, although replays show a goal may well have stood – it would have been Messi’s ninth in six appearances at the tournament.
It was Alvarez who stole the show on this occasion, however, with a fizzing effort from 25 yards which rifled into the top right corner of the goal in the 112th minute.
As the Swiss threw bodies forward in the dying seconds, there were huge holes left at the back and Lautaro Martinez capitalised deep into stoppage time in extra time to slot home a third after a counterattack led by Thiago Almada, whose initial shot deflected kindly into his teammate’s path.
Before Argentina will face England in the semifinal on Wednesday in Atlanta, Spain — who lost to Argentina in the final of Qatar 2022 — will play France on Tuesday.
Only two nations have previously defended a World Cup title, Italy and Brazil.—Reporting by Al Jazeera & AFP; editing by Maravi Express
Knockout stages results
Round of 32
* South Africa 0-1 Canada
* Jordan 1-3 Argentina
* Brazil 2-1 Japan
* Germany 1(3)-1(4) Paraguay
* Netherlands 1(2)-1(3) Morocco
* Côte d’Ivoire 1-2 Norway
* France 3-0 Sweden
* Mexico 2-0 Ecuador
* England 1-2 DR Congo
* Belgium 3-2 Senegal
* USA 2-0 Bosnia & Herzegovina
* Spain 3-0 Austria
* Portugal 2-1 Croatia
* Switzerland 2-0 Algeria
* Australia 1(2)-1(4) Egypt
* Argentina 3-2 Cape Verde
* Colombia 1-0 Ghana
Round of 16
* Canada 0-3 Morocco
* Paraguay 0-1 France
* Brazil 1-2 Norway
* Mexico 2-3 England
* Portugal 0-1 Spain
* USA 1-4 Belgium
* Argentina 3-2 Egypt
* Switzerland 0(4)-0(3) Colombia
Quarterfinals
* Morocco 0-2 France
Belgium 1-2 Spain
Today
* Norway 1-2 England
* Argentina 3-1 Switzerland
Semifinals
Tuesday, July 14
France v Spain
Wednesday, July 15
* England v Argentina
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