Bellingham’s Double Sends England to World Cup Semis with 2-1 Win Over Norway

England came from behind in a World Cup quarterfinal—and played poorly doing it. Jude Bellingham scored twice as England beat Norway 2-1 after extra-time, reaching the semifinals despite what manager Thomas Tuchel called a difficult performance.

Andreas Schjelderup opened the scoring for Norway with a shock lead. Bellingham answered just before half-time. The score held at 1-1 through regulation and deep into extra-time, until Bellingham struck again. He capitalized on an error by goalkeeper Orjan Nyland, who spilled a shot from Morgan Rogers, to secure England’s place in the last four.

This was England’s first ever World Cup quarterfinal. The victory marks their first World Cup semifinal since 2018. The match unfolded in Miami on Saturday at 5pm local time (21:00 GMT), with the temperature hovering above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and humidity making conditions oppressive.

Bellingham was unstoppable. His second goal was his sixth of the tournament, adding to the two he scored in England’s 3-2 win over Mexico in the last 16. Manager Thomas Tuchel made a tactical change at the break, bringing on Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze to replace Noni Madueke and Declan Rice. The adjustment steadied England after Norway’s early pressure.

Norway came agonizingly close. Kristoffer Ajer hit the bar in the second half, and a second goal was wiped out by VAR for a foul by Erling Haaland. Torbjorn Heggem also had a goal disallowed after Haaland pushed Elliott Anderson. Haaland was withdrawn at half-time of extra-time, ending his run of scoring in his last 14 competitive matches for Norway.

Tuchel didn’t mince words. “We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today. The result is fantastic. We are in the last four. It’s amazing but not happy with the performance,” he said. England had a penalty claim in extra-time, but VAR ruled that Djed Spence initiated contact inside the box, removing their best chance at a more comfortable win.

The victory caps a remarkable tournament run. Before this competition, England hadn’t won a World Cup knockout game after conceding first since the 1966 final. Now they’ve won two such matches in three outings. England will meet Argentina or Switzerland on Wednesday in the semifinal as they chase their first World Cup final in 60 years.