England’s World Cup Dream
England’s World Cup dream is alive, and for that they have to thank their two miracles. Jude Bellingham, their young superstar, is one, scoring both the goals to rally an off-colour England to a 2-1 victory over Norway, who will be wondering how they did not punish their opponents despite their brilliant performance in sweltering Miami on Saturday evening.
The other miracle is just how England’s unsettled defence managed to contain the damage to one goal and stop Norway striker Erling Haaland from even having a proper look at the England goal until the limping talisman was forced off with an injury at the halfway break of extra time.
Major tournament campaigns may not always be beautiful, but England, without an international trophy since their only World Cup victory in 1966, dug deep into their character to cross the finish line as organisation and individual skills deserted them in many phases.
England, who were semifinalists in Russia in 2018 and reached the quarterfinals in Qatar in 2022, will be grateful for the remarkable composure of Bellingham, who emulated Argentina legend Diego Maradona’s 1986 feat by scoring back-to-back braces. Maradona carried his side to the trophy on that occasion when the tournament was held in Mexico.
And it will be Argentina or Switzerland up next for England.
The quarterfinal was billed as Haaland versus Harry Kane, with the big question being how England would stop the 6’5” forward, whose form and threat are underlined by his seven goals in the tournament. Haaland didn’t add to his tally as he could not escape the close attention of the England defence, which was otherwise creaky.
Kane fared no better, having just three touches inside the Norway penalty box during regulation time. The only time he celebrated was after turning a Bellingham pass into the goal, but it was ruled offside. The England captain, with six goals and an assist so far, will get at least another chance to resume his hunt for the Golden Boot.
Norway, who can be proud of their campaign in only their second World Cup, had won four of their five games with a disciplined defensive block to shut out attacks and then launch rapid counters. Against England, their press when out of possession too was exemplary.
England manager Thomas Tuchel put Haaland’s Manchester City teammates, centre-backs Marc Guehi and John Stones, on the Norwegian target man, and they managed to come away unscathed in that task. But elsewhere they were plain lucky.
