Jude Bellingham continued his monster World Cup for England as his second goal in Saturday’s quarterfinal over Norway was the difference in a 2-1 win.
The teams could not decide a winner after 90 minutes. Extra time was needed and three minutes in Bellingham pounced on a rebound created off a Morgan Rogers‘ shot to put the Three Lions ahead.
Three of Bellingham’s goals have given England leads for good. His six goals in the tournament puts him with Gary Lineker (1986) and Harry Kane (2018, 2026) as the only England players to score at least five goals in a single men’s World Cup.
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Following the first-half hydration break, the match was looking promising for Norway. Instead of continuing to sit back and allowing England to devise ways to break down their back line, they pressed more, putting their opponents on the back foot.
The attacking mindset paid off in the 36th minute when Andreas Schjelderup, who replaced Antonio Nusa in the starting lineup, sent a wonderful strike from the left side of the England box over Jordan Pickford for the opening goal.
England was not affected by going behind and answered 10 minutes later.
Anthony Gordon‘s pass across the Norway penalty box was met by Bellingham, who then took three touches as he made space for himself before firing a shot past goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland to level before the break.
But should it have counted?
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It was shown at halftime Nyland’s goal kick that led to Bellingham’s first goal hit the sky cam cable above the field. According to FIFA, they “checked the data and no peak on the graph from the connected ball heartbeat sensor” was detected.
Norway thought it had tied the game 10 minutes into the second half, but a VAR review ended up taking the goal off the board.
A look at the monitor by referee Clément Turpin resulted in Torbjørn Heggem’s goal being taken away as it showed Erling Haaland had shoved Elliott Anderson prior to Martin Ødegaard’s corner kick.
Norway owned the possession battle in extra time and managed to get off four shots, but none were on target to test Pickford. England had done a good enough job at suppressing big chances and, most importantly, neutralizing Haaland.
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Haaland’s World Cup ends with him on seven goals in the Golden Boot race. He was subbed out in the 106th minute for Jørgen Strand Larsen after getting off two shots and 21 touches of the ball during the match, five of which came in the England penalty box.
The win puts England into the semifinals for the second time in the last three World Cups. The Three Lions will face the winner of Argentina-Switzerland on Wednesday in Atlanta.
