This was no thriller at the Azteca against Mexico but England showed guts to get past Norway and reach the 2026 World Cup semi-finals.
Thomas Tuchel’s side were the better of the two teams the opening 35 minutes but showed little attacking intent to try and take advantage of their control.
Goals can change games and out of nowhere Norway managed to get one.
Schjelderup was clearly trying to cross the ball from the left when it instead went in off the post but what was Jordan Pickford doing? A feeble attempt to stop this opening and potentially killer goal as the ball went over his head and put Norway one up.
This game ended up a reminder of just what a weakness England have in the goalkeeping position, plus in defence generally.
Norway weren’t good but they could have been two or three up by half-time. John Stones was lucky when losing possession in the England penalty area as Norway failed to take advantage. Then the Norwegians failed to take advantage of a two on one situation, Sorloth failed to pass to Erling Haaland who would surely have scored, an opportunity massively wasted and which they would pay for.
In added time at the end of the first half, a superb goal from England. Elliot Anderson did really well to initiate it and when he picked out former Newcastle United teammate Anthony Gordon, the Barcelona winger played a great ball into Jude Bellingham. A wonderful couple of touches saw him dance through the Norway defence and a clinical left foot finish had England level.
You do wonder what would have been the case if Norway had held their lead to the break. When you trail at half-time it often becomes the case where time swiftly slips away and you are suddenly at 65 minutes when it feels like the second half hasn’t really started.
A huge blow for Thomas Tuchel when Declan Rice couldn’t continue after the break, he and the woeful Madueke subbed off with Eze and Saka coming on. Two Arsenal players off and replaced by two club teammates.
I thought Saka had one of his better England performances and looked a threat, whereas for me Eze was poor and contributed little, which is usually the case with him.
England were again the marginally better team but didn’t play with the kind of intensity they showed against Mexico. I know the heat and humidity was tough in Miami but as Thomas Tuchel said afterwards, his players were sloppy and made life difficult for themselves.
It was ironic that as a team they pretty much totally marginalised Erling Haaland, yet at the same time almost gifted Norway what would have been killer goals in that second half.
Jordan Pickford was poor on crosses and invited trouble when conceding three corners in a row, two of the three were Norwegian efforts going off target. From one of the corners Torbjorn Heggem scored, only for Erling Haaland to have his one major moment in the match, the goal ruled out for Haaland’s needless shove on Elliot Anderson.
David Moller Wolfe headed against the bar as Pickford and his defence invited unnecessary pressure.
England threatened little in the second half and it was a bit of a relief when the whistle blew to end the 90+ minutes, as it prevented the possibility of Norway getting a shock goal that England would be very unlikely to recover from. Plus surely the greater strength in depth would surely see England become more dominant as both sides used their subs.
All 12 possible subs were used by the two teams and they helped England see out this win. Rogers was one of the subs and three minutes into extra time he tried his luck from distance (why don’t the England players do more of this instead of endless passing?) and Nyland spilled what should have been an easy take, that man Jude Bellingham making the effort to follow up and hugely rewarded with an easy finish.
Norway never seriously looked like coming back from that and when Erling Haaland was taken off, it felt a bit like they were accepting their World Cup was over.
Dan Burn was the 12th and final sub to get on the pitch for the final ten minutes and it was great to hear the reception he got from the England fans when he was introduced. Just as was the case against Mexico he was faultless, two or three times making the necessary clearances and helping England see it through.
One thing about this England team is that you can’t fault their commitment and despite not playing great, they got the job done.
Jude Bellingham was easily England’s best player and I thought Anderson and Gordon were decent, plus Dan Burn of course!
England now move on to Atlanta and a semi-final against Argentina on Wednesday, an 8pm (UK time) kick-off as the England journey continues.