Bellingham leads England past Norway to World Cup semifinalsplayFans in London go wild as Jude Bellingham equalises for England (0:42)Mark Ogden
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Jude Bellingham sent England into the World Cup semifinals with two goals as the Three Lions overturned a 1-0 deficit to seal a 2-1 extra-time win and end Norway hopes of a first-ever last four appearance in the tournament.
The Real Madrid star is now tied with England teammate Harry Kane with six goals in this tournament, behind the eight of France’s Kylian Mbappé and Argentina’s Lionel Messi. He scored twice in the round of 16 as England beat co-hosts Mexico.
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His goals gave England a second semifinal appearance in three World Cups — a game that will see them play the winner of Argentina versus Switzerland in Atlanta on Wednesday.
England have not reached the World Cup final since their only triumph in the competition as host nation in 1966.
Despite the win, coach Thomas Tuchel was critical of his side’s performance.
“The result is fantastic, we’re in the last four, it’s amazing, but not happy with the performance,” Tuchel mentioned. “Again, the commitment is there, but we made life very very difficult for us in the way we played, how we played — sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough — we were lucky today.”
Jude Bellingham celebrates scoring his and England’s second goal against Norway. ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty ImagesBellingham, though, brushed off those critiques.”Yeah well, whatever, whatever,” he mentioned. “It’s difficult out there, it’s a tough shift, all the players have put in a very tough shift so my thoughts and appreciation goes to the players who were out there, who put in a great shift yet again.”Andreas Schjelderup’s 36th minute opener — a left-foot shot that caught out England keeper Jordan Pickford by crashing in off the far post — gave Norway a deserved lead before Bellingham hauled England level in first-half stoppage time.
England’s Kane and Norway’s Torbjørn Heggem then had goals disallowed for offside and foul play, respectively, as the two teams fought out a tense quarterfinal in oppressive heat in Miami.
But after the two sides could not be separated during 90 minutes, Bellingham gave England the lead with a close-range goal three minutes into extra time.
With both sets of players visibly struggling with the conditions, Norway coach Ståle Solbakken surprisingly replaced striker Erling Haaland with Jørgen Strand Larsen at halftime in extra time.
England held on for the victory in a game that featured several controversial incidents.
Moments before Bellingham evened the score, a Norway goal kick resulted in the ball appearing to make contact with an aerial camera cable before landing at the feet of England’s Elliot Anderson.
The ball was eventually played to Bellingham, who beat Ørjan Nyland with a low shot to the far post. By rule, if the ball had been noticed hitting the cable, play would have stopped and a drop ball would have been utilized to determine possession.
England were also awarded a penalty when leading 2-1 in extra time after Djed Spence went down under a challenge from Oscar Bobb, but the decision was reversed after a video review.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
