Jude Bellingham has made a habit of rescuing England at tournament football, and at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami he did it twice in the same match. His equaliser on the stroke of half-time and a winner three minutes into stoppage time at the end of normal time were enough to carry England past Norway 2-1 after extra time, booking a World Cup semi-final berth against considerable resistance from Stale Solbakken's side.
Norway deserved their lead. Andreas Schjelderup, sharp and direct throughout the first half, converted the opening goal on 36 minutes from a Martin Ødegaard assist, and for a spell Solbakken's 4-3-3 looked capable of holding the shape required to protect it. England had 53 per cent of the ball and fashioned eight shots on target across 120 minutes, but the balance of the first half belonged to the hosts in red.
What changed it was Bellingham's timing. Two minutes into first-half stoppage time, Anthony Gordon found him in space and he finished to level at 1-1. It was exactly the kind of goal to destabilise a side that had played well enough to feel they merited more. Norway went in level when they had been winning, and that matters in a knockout game at this stage of a tournament.
The second half produced more England pressure. Tuchel made changes, with Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka coming on and each playing 75 minutes of the match. Saka added width and purpose on the right; Eze offered craft in tight areas. Ørjan Nyland was equal to everything England sent his way, finishing the game with six saves, and for long stretches Norway defended with the kind of collective discipline that makes teams difficult to break down even when they are pinned back.
Erling Haaland, so often the threat Norway build around, was kept goalless. England's centre-backs, John Stones composed throughout and Marc Guéhi steady, managed him without alarm. The statistics bear this out: Norway registered an expected goals figure of 0.77 to England's 1.09, and their four shots on target reflected how little they created after Schjelderup's opener.
The decisive moment arrived in the third minute of added time. Bellingham, working entirely on instinct in the kind of passage of play that defines quarter-finals, scored without an assist credited, making it 1-2. There was no time for Norway to respond. The match went to extra time with the score unchanged, England seeing out the additional 30 minutes to confirm their passage to the last four.
Bellingham departed on 111 minutes, his evening's work already complete. Declan Rice and Noni Madueke had both been replaced at half-time, Tuchel clearly sensing the match required different energy in the second period. Rice, in fairness, had done his defensive work well in the first half; England's pass accuracy of 91 per cent across the game reflected a team that kept the ball moving efficiently even when they could not find a way through.
Norway will reflect on a performance that deserved more than elimination. Seven corners, 86 per cent passing accuracy, and a goalkeeper who was arguably the best player on the pitch in Nyland: these are not the statistics of a side that froze. They were simply undone, in the end, by one man's capacity to find the right moment at the right time. England are in the semi-finals. Bellingham put them there.