MIAMI STADIUM \u2014 <\/strong>England is headed to the 2026 FIFA World Cup semifinals for the second time in eight years.<\/p>\n On a sweltering Saturday in\u00a0South Florida, where the temperature before kickoff at 5 p.m. local time hovered higher than 90 degrees, the Three Lions came back from a 1-0 deficit to eliminate upstart Norway and its superhero of a striker, Manchester City goal-machine Erling Haaland.<\/p>\n Two goals by English star Jude Bellingham \u2014 the second in the third minute of extra time \u2014 saw the Three Lions advance after Andreas Schjelderup opened the scoring against the run of play in the first half.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bellingham canceled out Schjelderup\u2019s strike with a spectacular equalizer just before the intermission, then added the winner when Norwegian keeper \u00d8rjan Nyland failed to corral the rebound from Morgan Rogers\u2019 powerful shot.<\/p>\n “World-class,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said of Bellingham’s big night. “A world-class performance from a world-class player in big, big moments \u2013 crucial moments.”<\/p>\n Here are my four takeaways from England’s victory over Norway:<\/p>\n (Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Halfway through the additional 30 minutes played in Miami, a quick look at the stats told the story.\u00a0Both sides had 10 shots. Both had directed half of them on-target. Both teams had a goal called back earlier in the game \u2014 the Three Lions because they were offside, Norway after the video assistant flagged a foul committed by Haaland just before what looked like a potential game-winner.<\/p>\n (VAR also denied England a penalty attempt after Bellingham\u2019s second that could\u2019ve ended the contest there and then.)<\/p>\n Still, in a game billed as a battle between Haaland and Harry Kane \u2014 probably the best two pure scorers on the planet \u2014 Bellingham stole the show for the second England match running.<\/p>\n “It’s nice to have an impact and to help my team,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n After scoring twice in last weekend\u2019s thrilling 3-2 win over co-hosts Mexico at the iconic Estadio Azteca \u2014 known as Mexico City Stadium during the World Cup \u2014 Bellingham again came alive when his country needed him most.<\/p>\n His first goal was a team play that he finished with a flash of individual brilliance, his second a clinic in anticipation and timing and execution.<\/p>\n In a match where the margins were razor-thin, he is the reason England is off to Atlanta for the World Cup semifinal, while Norway is going home.<\/p>\n “His mentality is what puts him on that level,” keeper Jordan Pickford said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Never before had Norway made a World Cup quarterfinal. It hadn\u2019t even qualified for the biggest event in sports this century before finally making it back this summer. Even then \u2014 and even with Haaland spearheading the attack and Arsenal captain Martin \u00d8degaard running the show behind them \u2014 nobody expected much from the Drillos. Norway was ranked 32nd by FIFA in January. It was 31st when this World Cup kicked off exactly a month ago.<\/p>\n Yet on the field and off, the Norwegians were one of the best stories of this World Cup. Videos of their fans taking over Times Square and executing their choreographed “Viking Row” on escalators and New York City subways endeared them to locals there, and in Boston, in Dallas and here in Miami.<\/p>\n Norway beat Senegal and Ivory Coast and then eliminated five-time champions Brazil. And none of it was a fluke. It may have lost to England on Saturday, but it won the hearts of neutrals all over America and in countries in every corner of the globe. These Vikings and their incredible supporters can and will row back across the Atlantic with their heads held high. Even in defeat, on a quiet night that ended when he was subbed out in extra time, Haaland left his mark.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Everyone,” Pickford said, “Knows how good a player Earling is.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Tuchel\u2019s squad had \u00a0wait a few hours to find out which opponent it’ll meet in Atlanta on Wednesday, with the Three Lions slated to face the winner of Saturday\u2019s nightcap in Kansas City between Messi\u2019s Albiceleste and Switzerland.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, it’s the defending champs. Despite being an ocean apart, Argentina and England have a long and storied rivalry on the global stage.<\/p>\n Diego Maradona\u2019s famous “Goal of the Century” slalom and infamous “Hand of God” strike in 1986 came in the same quarterfinal game vs. England. Argentina also knocked the Three Lions out in the quarters in 1998 following a red card by David Beckham. Four years later, Beckham \u2014 the current Inter Miami co-owner who was in the house on Saturday \u2014 scored a penalty that helped beat Argentina en route to La Albiceleste\u2019s shocking group stage exit.<\/p>\n Tensions between the sides haven\u2019t been limited to soccer, either, as the two countries fought a 74-day war in 1982 over the control of the Falkland Islands off Argentina\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n Now, for the first time, they’ll play each other with a trip to the World Cup final at stake.\u00a0<\/p>\n (Photo by Dustin Satloff\/Getty Images for Rexona)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY MIAMI STADIUM \u2014 England is headed to the 2026 FIFA World Cup semifinals for the second time in eight years. On a sweltering Saturday in\u00a0South Florida, where the temperature before kickoff at 5 p.m. local time hovered higher than 90 degrees, the Three Lions came back from a 1-0 deficit to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}