Jude Bellingham double sends England into World Cup semi-finals

England reached the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup on Saturday, defeating Norway 2-1 after extra time in a fraught quarter-final at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami.

Jude Bellingham scored twice for England, first equalising Andreas Schjelderup's first-half opener and then netting the winning goal early in extra time, after Norway had a second goal disallowed by the video assistant referee (VAR).

Norway took the lead in the 36th minute when Andreas Schjelderup struck a fine finish off the far post, following a quick break led by captain Martin Odegaard. England levelled in first-half stoppage time through Bellingham, who beat three defenders before drilling a low shot past goalkeeper Orjan Nyland.

Television replays appeared to show that Nyland's earlier goal kick had struck the overhead cable supporting the pitch-side Skycam before dropping to Elliot Anderson, who set up Bellingham's equaliser. Norway's players, including Erling Haaland, protested to the referee at the time, but the goal was allowed to stand.

Under FIFA's Laws of the Game, play should be stopped and restarted with a dropped ball if the ball touches an external object, such as a camera cable, while in play. VAR did not intervene on the goal.

The sides went in level at half-time, with England having dominated possession without creating clear chances, while Norway looked the more threatening side as the half wore on.

Norway thought they had retaken the lead in the second half when Ola Heggem finished from close range after a corner. However, the goal was disallowed following a VAR review, which found that Erling Haaland had fouled Elliot Anderson with a two-handed push in the build-up.

England were reduced to defending for large periods of the second half, with Norway enjoying the majority of possession, but held on to take the match into extra time at 1-1.

Bellingham struck again in the third minute of extra time, converting the rebound after Norway goalkeeper Nyland could only parry a shot from substitute Morgan Rogers. It proved to be the decisive goal.

England were awarded a penalty in extra time after Djed Spence was brought down by Oscar Bobb, but the decision was overturned following a VAR review, with the referee determining that Spence had initiated the contact.

Haaland, who had scored in each of his previous 14 appearances for Norway, was substituted during extra time having failed to find the net. He was replaced by Jorgen Strand Larsen.

England held firm for the remainder of extra time to secure their place in the last four, despite Norway pushing for a late equaliser.

Speaking to ITV after the match, England manager Thomas Tuchel praised his side's result while criticising elements of the performance. "The result is fantastic. We are in the last four. It's amazing but not happy with the performance," he said.

Tuchel added that England had made "a lot of technical mistakes" and were "not fast enough, not repetitive enough" during the match. "We were lucky today," he said.

When asked whether the difficulties England faced were down to the players' mentality, Tuchel rejected the suggestion. "This is pure mentality. It's not about mentality. You can bottle it up and sell it. It's about the quality — we need to play better," he said.

Tuchel praised his substitutes, singling out Reece James, Morgan Rogers, Eberechi Eze and Djed Spence, and reserved particular praise for Bellingham. "Enough said. He does it every single match. World class," he said.

Bellingham has now scored five goals at the 2026 World Cup and six across his World Cup career, a tally surpassed by only two other English players: Gary Lineker, with ten, and Harry Kane, who has scored 14.

England will face either Argentina or Switzerland in the semi-finals, as they seek to reach a first World Cup final since 1966. Tuchel said his side would need to recover quickly. "Now it's celebration. Now it's taking it all in. We have three days. We need everything," he said.