Jude Bellingham has made a habit of rescuing England at this World Cup. On a suffocating Miami evening, he did it again. The Real Madrid midfielder scored twice to send England past Norway 2-1 after extra time at Hard Rock Stadium, booking the Three Lions a place in the semi-finals for only the third time in their history.
It was not pretty. It rarely is with this England side. But when the moment demanded someone to step forward, Bellingham was there, as he has been for most of this tournament, leaving the rest to exhale and the travelling support to pour into the Florida night singing Oasis songs.
Norway drew first blood through a moment of genuine fortune. Andreas Schjelderup’s cross-shot deceived Jordan Pickford and crept inside the post, giving the Norwegians a lead that their pressing and physicality had arguably deserved.
England struggled to cope with the sweltering conditions and the directness of a Norway side that repeatedly threatened through Erling Haaland, who came into the game as the tournament’s top scorer but was kept relatively quiet by England’s defensive discipline.
Alexander Sørloth spurned the clearest opening of the first half, failing to square for Haaland during a two-on-one counter-attack that should have doubled the lead, a miss that would prove costly.
England’s equaliser arrived in first-half stoppage time and came with immediate controversy. Bellingham drove into the box and finished superbly.
However, Norway furiously protested that Ørjan Nyland’s goal kick had struck an overhead camera cable in the build-up, altering play before the ball reached Elliot Anderson. FIFA reviewed the incident and confirmed the matchball’s sensor showed no contact with any external object. The goal stood.
The second half ground forward through heat and exhaustion with neither side able to find a winner. Norway ran on empty as the clock crept toward penalties, their legs visibly gone by the time extra time arrived.
England sensed it. Morgan Rogers, brought on as a substitute, let fly from distance in the 93rd minute. Nyland got behind the shot but could only spill it, and Bellingham, reacting fastest in the box, pounced to force the ball over the line and send England through.
Six goals at this World Cup now for the 23-year-old, level with Harry Kane and one behind Haaland. Five days earlier, he had produced the same two-goal heroics to see off Mexico in the round of sixteen.
There is a pattern forming here, and it carries the weight of a nation’s hope more comfortably than anyone had a right to expect from a player still only 23.
England will face either Argentina or Switzerland in the semi-final on Wednesday, their first appearance in the last four since 2018 and only the third time they have reached this stage in World Cup history.
The football has not always been convincing, but the results keep coming. At a tournament, particularly one being played in conditions this brutal, that is sometimes everything.
David Beckham was spotted in the stands wearing a full suit despite the humidity, which somehow felt appropriate for a night that was equal parts suffering and triumph. England are in the semi-finals of the World Cup. The rest can wait.