NORWAY 1-2 ENGLAND<\/p>\n
Goals:\u00a0Schjelderup | Bellingham x2<\/p>\n
Assists: Odegaard | Gordon, Rogers<\/p>\n
Shot on target bonus (England): Kane<\/p>\n
Tackles bonus (England):\u00a0Saka<\/p>\n
Top points scorers (England):\u00a0Bellingham (14), Gordon (5), Saka (4), Rogers (4)<\/p>\n
TEAM STATS<\/p>\n
![\"Konsa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-106.png\")
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PLAYER STATS<\/p>\n
![\"Konsa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-107-1024x702.png\")
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![\"Konsa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-108-1024x526.png\")
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SCOUT NOTES<\/p>\n
Not 100% convincing, riding their luck at times, but finding a way. That pretty much sums England up last night, although it could also be said of Spain and Argentina in their victorious quarter-finals and myriad teams in the first two rounds of the knockout stages. Mentality is as valuable as technical quality at this stage of a World Cup, and even those not of an English persuasion would probably acknowledge that the Three Lions have it in spades.<\/p>\n
Thomas Tuchel hailed the commitment of his side after the game, toning down his initial post-match criticism of his team with a more measured appraisal in the press conference:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m impressed with the effort they put in, their commitment, team spirit, belief, and ability to overcome adversity, persevere, and find ways to win. They\u2019re at the highest possible level. They can\u2019t be praised enough for that, but I\u2019m also a football coach, and I believe we can play better. Overall, I don\u2019t think it was a top-level match. I think, generally speaking, we\u2019ve played better games. There were a lot of shifts in momentum for both teams. So all the credit goes to the team.\u201d \u2013 Thomas Tuchel, via Futbol Fantasy<\/a><\/p>\n Norway did take the lead fortuitously when Andreas Schjelderup\u2018s cross found its way in via the post, but Stale Solbakken\u2019s side threatened throughout. There were a couple of warning shots before the opener, when Erling Haaland nearly pounced on a short back-pass and nodded on target, and Landslaget were the more dangerous side for long periods of the second half, especially. Haaland should have been played in by Alexander Sorloth, while the woodwork was struck and a set-piece goal was contentiously chalked off for a foul. The BBC\u2019s \u2018match momentum\u2019<\/a> graph below shows how the game swung in Norway\u2019s favour about half an hour in:<\/p>\n When you\u2019re not firing on all cylinders collectively, it always helps to have world-class individuals who can deliver \u2018moments\u2019. This game was partly billed as \u2018Haaland v Harry Kane ($10.5m)\u2019 but England of course have another joker up their sleeve: Jude Bellingham ($8.3m). It\u2019s hard to think of a current midfielder who times his dashes into the box as well as the Real Madrid man, and he drew level with Kane in the Golden Boot race with goals five and six of the World Cup here. Driving superbly into the area to score after fine work from Anthony Gordon ($7.0m), he then grabbed the winner in extra time when Morgan Rogers\u2019 ($7.2m) shot had been spilt.<\/p>\n \u201cWorld-class. A world-class performance from a world-class player in the big, big, big moments. Absolutely top-level.\u201d \u2013 Thomas Tuchel on Jude Bellingham, via Futbol Fantasy<\/a><\/p>\n What owners don\u2019t want to see is Bellingham further back in midfield, which happened at times on Saturday. However, at least Tuchel acknowledges that a deeper Bellingham is not optimal, and he swiftly looked to remedy this against Norway:<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cJude Bellingham started as a right-sided number 10, and when we made the changes at halftime, we moved him to left-sided number 8, more of an 8-10 position. That put him a few yards deeper on the pitch, which wasn\u2019t ideal for us because I want him as far forward as possible. Then we brought on Reece James and moved him to number 6, which freed up Elliot Anderson to move back to number 8 and allowed Jude Bellingham to return to right-sided number 10. When we brought on Morgan Rogers, because we needed Reece James at right-back, we moved Elliot Anderson back to number 6 and played Morgan Rogers as number 8, and defensively, with a double pivot.\u201d \u2013 Thomas Tuchel, via Futbol Fantasy<\/a><\/p>\n Bellingham aside, who else impressed? Gordon was very good again down the left, assisting the opener. However, probably the other stand-out contributions came off the bench. Djed Spence ($4.5m) was surprisingly excellent at left-back when he came on. Bukayo Saka ($9.5m), benched for this one as the minute management continues, again proved he\u2019s streets ahead of Noni Madueke ($6.1m), putting in a solid shift down the right. Saka contributed three shots and two key passes after emerging at half-time. Rogers and \u2018big\u2019 Dan Burn ($4.5m) also made key contributions.<\/p>\n Does any of them force their way into the semi-final line-up, however? Saka surely starts ahead of Madueke when 100% fit but Tuchel may favour his impact as a \u2018finisher\u2019 while he\u2019s not. Nico O\u2019Reilly ($4.7m), meanwhile, did little wrong to lose his place to Spence. Once again, the Manchester City man was a sporadic goal threat, nearly forcing in an opener before Schjelderup did.<\/p>\n The fitness scares appear to be of minimal concern, too. Ezri Konsa ($4.8m), redeployed here at right-back as John Stones ($4.6m) came in at centre-half, came off only with cramp. Declan Rice ($7.0m), hooked at half-time, was merely feeling the effects of last week\u2019s illness.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had some players struggling with the heat. Ezri Konsa was one of them, with hamstring cramps. Who was the other? Well, Declan Rice. <\/p>\n \u201cAt half-time, we made the decision to be more attacking, to make a change in our attacking approach.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we brought on Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka for the right wing. That meant we had to take off either Elliot Anderson or Declan Rice, knowing that Declan Rice had been struggling after the last three days, during which he had spent most of his time in bed. I knew he couldn\u2019t last 90 minutes and there was a possibility the game could go to 120. I didn\u2019t want to waste another substitution, so the decision was to take Declan Rice off before he needed to come off to save us another substitution later on.\u201d \u2013 Thomas Tuchel, via Futbol Fantasy<\/a><\/p>\n We haven\u2019t mentioned much of Kane but he did have the ball in the net for a marginally offside goal, and nearly had an extra-time penalty to take, only for the decision to be overturned. It was one of his least threatening appearances (two of his three shots came from way out, including a direct free-kick) but the Argentina defence looks far from watertight, so there are few concerns about him for the semi-finals.<\/p>\n It\u2019s farewell to Norway, then. Haaland couldn\u2019t bow out with a goal, and didn\u2019t even last the course, being replaced in the second half of injury time.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a difficult decision to substitute him because he was finished. Perhaps I should have taken him off ten minutes earlier, but he had already experienced a very demanding World Cup. He used all his energy and strength match after match. I think he also took a knock to his leg around the 65th minute. That combined with fatigue. But he did everything he could.\u201d \u2013 Stale Solbakken on Erling Haaland, via Futbol Fantasy<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-109.png\")
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Toolkit-Announcement.jpg\")
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