After a night of drama and controversy in hot and sticky Miami, England are in to the semi-finals of the World Cup. Thomas Tuchel’s team may still be looking for their best form – and the England manager may not be happy – but that won’t matter until Wednesday in Atlanta.
Here, Daily Mail Sport looks at the big stories of a long night in Florida.
Can England win a World Cup playing like this?
An equaliser that maybe shouldn’t have stood, a winner from a goalkeeping howler and a Norwegian goal that VAR chalked off. That’s one way to get to only a fourth World Cup semi-final in English football history.
The big question is whether England can continue to ride this strange wave to the winner’s podium in New Jersey next Sunday. Strange as it sounds, they probably can.
England are playing with a spirit and a unity that was absent in the Euros of 2024 and they have match-winners who are continuing to do what it says on the tin. England have played six games at this tournament and Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham have 12 goals between them. That is a river that doesn’t look as though it will stop flowing any time soon and both men look as though they believe they can score each time they step on to the field at the moment.
If England are to progress – and Wednesday’s semi-final in Atlanta will be a huge ask after this – then a game against France or Spain at the MetLife will require a performance a million miles better for them to have a chance. But that is hopefully a question for next week.
It’s worth remembering one important thing. The best team doesn’t always win the World Cup.
Harry Kane leads the celebrations after Englnad’s win over Norway in Miami
Jude Bellingham slams home the winning goal to put England into the last four
Tuchel times it right
Throughout this strange England World Cup, Tuchel has remained publicly supportive of his players even when it’s been quite obvious that they haven’t been playing to the levels generally needed to move through a tournament. Here, though, he drew a line in the sand and it felt like the right time.
This was a performance of commitment and energy from England. They looked dead on their feet in the last 10 minutes of normal time and somehow found the gas they needed in extra-time. But that is no way to mask a performance that largely saw them outplayed by a Norway team that – man for man – should not live with them.
Management is about tactics and selection and in-game decisions and all the rest of it but it’s also a business of timing and intuition. Standing on the touchline with TV interviewers in the broiling heat of this stadium at full-time, Tuchel decided it was time to give his team both barrels.
‘Sloppy’ and ‘lucky’ were two words he used and – though Bellingham didn’t look chuffed when the comments were relayed to him later – he was absolutely right. Tuchel has tried everything to drag a proper performance out of this team and it hasn’t worked. This felt like the last resort and also appropriate.
Thomas Tuchel called his England side ‘sloppy’ and ‘lucky’ after their win over Norway
The same sad song
This is a strange England team in that it would fancy its chances against most opponents but also looks and feels as though it could lose to anybody.
This isn’t only because of problems that have run through Tuchel’s back four during this World Cup but that certainly hasn’t helped.
Here Tuchel picked the only defence that was really sensible – with Ezri Konsa moving over to right-back to allow John Stones in – but we sat and watched the same old problems play out.
Stones was brilliant for that final half an hour in Mexico as 10-man England glued their backs to the wall but other than that he has not had a good tournament. He was left on his backside as Croatia scored a good opening goal in Dallas and almost gave Haaland a goal on a plate here in the first half.
Norway are a decent side who have found a way of playing in this tournament. Their defeat of Brazil was superb. But the famous South Americans were a team full of defensive flaws and so unfortunately are England.
Tuchel’s back four infects the whole team with its uncertainty and that also includes the goalkeeper. Jordan Pickford looked as though he had found his true self in Mexico City but perhaps he left himself there, too. At some point, all of this surely has to change.
John Stones is robbed of the ball by Patrick Berg and it nearly led to a Norway goal in Miami
Jordan Pickford looked as though he had found his true self in Mexico City but perhaps he left himself there, too
Anderson joins the club
If Kane and Bellingham have dragged England through this tournament by their bootlaces – they have scored all but one of their team’s 13 goals between them – then they are slowly being joined in the elite performance club by Elliot Anderson.
The new Manchester City signing’s performances have been assured from the opening game but against Norway he moved up another gear. With his senior midfield partner Declan Rice leaving the field injured at half-time and now a possible doubt for Wednesday, Anderson looks as though carrying the load through a semi-final will not faze him one bit.
Some players emerge at big summer tournaments almost without breaking stride. Another midfielder David Platt did likewise when England reached the last four in Italy in 1990.
Previously out here we have seen Anderson sit deep in midfield as Rice has operated further up. Here in Miami, it was all a little different as Anderson was allowed to roam right from the outset. Maybe it was a plan to protect Rice – who has been nursing pain in this tournament in his hamstring and his back – by reducing the Arsenal man’s yards.
Whatever the case, it worked. Anderson was excellent with the ball at his feet and the range of the 23-year-old’s passing is growing all the time. Watching him spread the play on several occasions to Noni Madueke on the right hand side was a glimpse of the kind of service players like Jeremy Doku and Antoine Semenyo will receive at the Etihad during the new season. He was a spark in another disjointed England performance.
Elliot Anderson was excellent with the ball at his feet and the range of the 23-year-old’s passing is growing all the time
Kane and Haaland are just different
We can argue all day about who is the better centre forward but Kane and Erling Haaland simply play the game a different way.
While Kane is the ultimate first line of defence for England – pushing on to opponents in possession and dropping as deep as is necessary to find the ball – Haaland is almost a study in isolation and solitude.
Erling Haaland can look almost peripheral to the game. But he was influential where it mattered here in Miami and that’s his gift
When England had the ball in an early phase of dominance, the City striker would drop in to his team’s shape but show absolutely no interest in closing the ball down. It was always more of a ‘wander’ than a ‘run’ when he moved towards an England player with the ball and was clearly designed to save energy for when he really needs it.
Stones and Marc Guehi were essentially allowed to have the ball at their leisure and it’s only when England moved into the final third that the Norway defence engaged. It is not dissimilar to how Haaland plays for City in the Premier League. His touch map can often be quite shocking in that he can look almost peripheral to the game.
But Haaland was influential where it mattered here in Miami and that’s his gift. We will miss him in this tournament.
