England are into the World Cup last four, and they had to grind for it. Jude Bellingham scored twice, the second early in extra time, as England edged Norway 2-1 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Saturday. For long stretches this was Norway's tie. In the end, it turned on inches.
Norway matched them, almost to the last
Andreas Schjelderup put Norway ahead in the 36th minute, and it was no smash-and-grab. Norway carried the game to England, pressed with purpose, and looked the more assured side through the opening hour. England needed a moment, and Bellingham found one, equalising deep in first-half stoppage time on 45+2. Honours even at the break. Honours even after 90 minutes, too.
The numbers tell the story of a tie that could have gone either way. Possession finished 52-48 in England's favour and the shot count was level at 14 apiece, per ESPN's match centre. The expected-goals figures barely separated the sides, 0.96 to Norway's 0.77. Norway even shaded the fouls and forced more work from the opposition keeper. Where England held the edge was in the cold business of finishing: they hit the target eight times to Norway's four and fashioned two big chances to one.
England's control showed in the passing, if not the scoreboard. They completed 567 passes at 91 per cent accuracy, against Norway's 492 at 85, and won more of the individual battles, 54 duels to 47. Yet none of that dominance was decisive. This was a quarter-final settled by who took their chances, not by who had the ball.
Bellingham, again, in the 93rd
Extra time was three minutes old when the tie finally broke. Morgan Rogers shot, the goalkeeper could not hold it, and Bellingham was quickest to the rebound to make it 2-1. It was the instinct of a player who has dragged England through this tournament. The brace followed his goal in the round-of-16 win over Mexico, and once more he was the one to settle things when England were short of ideas.
Norway did not fold. They pushed for a leveller across the second period of extra time, and the pressure told in flashes of frustration, Kristoffer Ajer collecting a booking in the 117th minute. But England, kept in order to the whistle by the French referee Clement Turpin, saw it out. Norway's keeper made six saves to England's three, a measure of how much England had to survive as much as how much they created.
Haaland's tournament ends at the last eight
For all the noise around him, Erling Haaland could not conjure the goal Norway needed, and their World Cup ends at the quarter-final. Haaland had been among the tournament's scorers, but on the night that mattered most he was kept quiet. Norway leave with credit and little else, a side that went toe to toe with one of the favourites and came up a single moment short.
England march on, though this was a warning as much as a triumph. Strip out Bellingham and the attacking play stuttered, and a tie this tight against Norway suggests there is a gear still to find. They now wait on the winner of Argentina and Switzerland to learn their semi-final opponent. The reward is a place in the last four. The open question is whether England can offer more than one man's inspiration when they get there.
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