The difference in an England shirt
Twice against Mexico, twice against Norway. Jude Bellingham has scored in each of England's last two knockout ties, and in the quarter-final on 11 July he did the lot himself: both goals in a 2-1 win over Norway, the winner arriving in extra time.
That makes four decisive goals in six games at these finals. Bellingham now has six in total, level with captain Harry Kane as England's joint-top scorer and clear of every other midfielder at the tournament. Only three men have scored more, and they are Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, three out-and-out forwards. For a No 10 asked to create as much as finish, it is a remarkable return.
England have not always convinced. Bellingham has. When the football turned slow and the passing went astray, it was the 22-year-old who found a way through, first to see off Mexico in the round of 16 and then to drag his side past a stubborn Norway. It is becoming a habit. The tighter the tie, the more he wants the ball, and the more England hand it to him.
Tuchel picks his moment
Which made what came next all the more surprising. Rather than gush, Thomas Tuchel used the aftermath of the Norway win to pick the performance apart, calling it slow, inaccurate and technically inconsistent. A manager grumbling after a quarter-final victory is not the usual script.
There is history here. Tuchel and Bellingham have been circling the same question for some time, reportedly more than 18 months: how much freedom the midfielder should be given. Bellingham wants a roaming brief, licence to drift and hurt teams where he pleases. Tuchel wants him inside the structure, doing the unseen work as well as the eye-catching sort. Sky Sports have called it a "battle of wills", and it is not hard to see why.
Read the wrong way, that sounds like trouble. Read another, it is two winners refusing to blink. Gary Neville, no soft touch, said he had "no problem" with the exchanges and thought the tension was "healthy" for England. Kane went further, dismissing any talk of "division" and insisting there is "complete togetherness" in the camp before the semi-final.
Not everyone sees it so calmly. Sports Illustrated framed the tensions as uncomfortable, a wrinkle in an otherwise serene march to the last four. Nobody inside the camp is treating it as a crisis, though, and the winning has not stopped.
Kane's record, and a chance at another
Kane has his own milestone to show for the summer. During these finals he became England's all-time leading men's World Cup goalscorer, moving past Gary Lineker's long-standing mark of 10. The captain and the talisman now sit level on six for the tournament, two off the pace in the Golden Boot race. Two goals in a semi-final would put either man right back in that conversation.
What Tuchel does with Bellingham next is the open question. The manager has not tipped his hand on selection or role, and it would be unwise to assume he will. What is certain is the fixture: England meet Argentina in the second semi-final on 15 July in Atlanta, at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with a place in the final at MetLife on 19 July the prize. Argentina, of course, will have their own ideas.
Bellingham has been the difference four times already. England will fancy their chances of a fifth.
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