Jude Bellingham took a sad song and made it better.
From Florida to Liverpool, England fans serenaded their superstar midfielder as he nearly-singlehandedly brought them two steps away from a World Cup title.
Bellingham deposited the go-ahead goal in the third minute of extra time and England hung on for a 2-1 victory over Norway in a quarterfinal classic on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Bellingham scored both goals for the Three Lions to dig them out of a 1-0 hole while tying teammate Harry Kane with six in this tournament. Anthony Gordon had an assist and Jordan Pickford made three saves for England.
England, 60 years removed from their only World Cup title, secured just their fourth semifinal berth in history and their second in the past three tournaments. They will face Argentina, a 3-1 winner in extra time over Switzerland later Saturday night, in a semifinal in Atlanta on Wednesday. The final is June 19 at East Rutherford, N.J.
The winning goal was created when substitute Morgan Rogers fired a shot from outside the box that Orjan Nyland failed to catch, the ball deflecting into the goalmouth. Bellingham darted in and beat his man to the ball for the easy putback.
As has become tradition, supporters sang the Beatles’ hit “Hey Jude” at Bellingham after each goal.
“I love it. It never gets old,” Bellingham told reporters after he was seen taking in the scenes, with the likes of David Beckham joining in. “Always sounds good.”
Andreas Schjelderup scored in the 36th minute and Nyland made six saves for the Vikings, who were playing in their first World Cup quarterfinal game.
“I’m most proud of the fact that we have been here for 6 1/2 weeks and that all the players and the support staff have contributed. We haven’t had a boring moment,” Norway coach Stale Solbakken said via a translation. “… It’s very difficult now, but I think that when some time passes, that in a week or two, everyone can agree that the summer of ‘26 has been fairly OK.”
Norway subbed out Erling Haaland halfway through extra time. That decision ended his record 14-match streak of competitive international appearances with a goal.
England, who controlled play for the first half-hour, seemingly have no reason to be sour about the result. But coach Thomas Tuchel — in his first World Cup cycle after time at Bayern Munich and other giant clubs — expressed only frustration with his team’s performance in a postgame TV interview.
“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today,” Tuchel said. “The result is fantastic, we’re in the last four, it’s amazing, but not happy with the performance. In every sense. … Sloppy, lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky today.”
Bellingham was asked about the criticism and seemed to push back.
“Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, (Martin) Odegaard, (Antonio) Nusa, (Alexander) Sorloth,” Bellingham said. “That’s not an easy team to play against.
“I think we’ve tried to create a positive environment. We should continue that going into the final four.”
Norway’s opening goal was preceded by a nice look for Haaland, whose close-range header went straight to Pickford. England attempted to advance it up the pitch, but Kane was dispossessed from behind and the Vikings returned to their attack. Schjelderup, from the left side of the box, unleashed a left-footed rocket that banged in off the far post.
Kane stayed on the ground seeking a foul, but no foul was issued and the goal was upheld after VAR review.
But England’s attack was rewarded on Bellingham’s equalizer two minutes into stoppage time. Gordon hit the centering pass as Bellingham was afforded too much space amid the Norway defense. He dribbled in and, as he fell down, struck a left-footed shot across Nyland’s body.
There was controversy at the onset of the sequence leading to England’s first goal. Nyland’s goal kick appeared to hit the camera cable suspended above the field, and the ball fell down to England’s Elliot Anderson near midfield. Norway argued that the play should have been blown dead when the ball touched an outside object, but to no avail, with FIFA releasing a statement that there was “no evidence” the ball hit a wire.
“That was unlucky for us,” Solbakken said. “The ball fell straight down from the sky, so it changed its direction. It became a misunderstanding among our players and it was a bad moment for us, but we can’t do anything about that.”
With momentum recovered, England thought they added a second on the final play of the half on Kane’s chip shot, but he was immediately ruled offside.
It was Norway’s turn to believe they’d taken a 2-1 lead in the 55th when Torbjorn Heggem deposited a rebound at the end of a crazy corner-kick sequence. The VAR took it off the board as Haaland pushed Anderson to the ground before the corner kick was played.
Pickford punched away the first look off a Norway corner kick near the 75-minute mark. Kristoffer Ajer’s headed attempt shortly after struck the crossbar.
Minutes after Bellingham’s second tally, Djed Spence was upset that a foul in the box on Oscar Bobb was overturned by VAR, taking a penalty kick away from England.
In the 109th minute, Patrick Berg missed over the crossbar for Norway. Then Nyland made a series of saves, including on Spence and Bukayo Saka.
–Field Level Media
