My goodness, that was a difficult watch wasn't it! But let's be honest England, yet again, found a way to progress in this, a World Cup that will soon be forgotten once it is over. The England performance was poor to say the least, but, when you think about it, we cannot expect super flowing football from our team with all that they have had to face in this marathon of a tournament. The heat, the weather, the travelling, the injuries, the refereeing and the antics of some of our opponents has made this unbearably difficult.

This game was a nice change in many ways, gone were the antics of Latin American, African and Eastern European sides, who only seem to want to win by foul means, instead we had a Norwegian side that play the game properly. The camaraderie between the sides was there for all to see at the end and no side has lost in this tournament with the same dignity as Norway.

As for the game itself, it was a very cagey start from both sides as neither wanted to make a fatal early mistake. As a result we were treated to much slow football, in fact, at times, it made walking football look pacey! England dominated possession in the first quarter but the most that came from it all was a couple of corners. At the other end the England defence was not put under too much pressure and it was more of a case of Norway pulling everyone back behind the ball. The timing of the runs had to be just right and sadly, there were few of those.

It was after the first drinks break that I recorded a first goal attempt when Harry Kane's free-kick flew over the bar. There was a scare on the half-hour when a mistake by John Stones so nearly set up a lethargic looking Erling Haaland but thankfully Jordan Pickford ran like a greyhound to nip the error in the bud and get to the ball first. That was probably the only mistake from Stones and he and Marc Guehi looked good together. Norway did step it up a bit after the water break and another cross from the right saw Haaland have a header, but Pickford easily saved what was virtually the last contribution from the Norwegian talisman.

Then, out of the blue on 35 minutes, Kane lost possession and the ball went wide to Andreas Schjelderup who wasted no time in firing in a shot at goal from an angle which beat Pickford's leap and sailed into the net. Just what England did not want. The goal lifted Norway and first Alexander Sorloth shot narrowly over the bar and then Martin Odegaard aimed a shot just inside the near post but Pickford was quickly down to save well. A minute from the break a breakaway left England totally exposed and with Haaland pleading for a pass the move ended with a wrong decision by Sorloth to shoot rather than pass. That was a really lucky let-off for England as they were all over the place at the back at the time.

That moment may have defined the match for Norway, because just after that incident Nico O'Reilly's long pass to Anthony Gordon had the winger sprinting down the left. He then squared a firm pass inside and there was hero of the hour Jude Bellingham who beat his man to shoot home a terrific equalising goal. Then in the time added on at the end of the half Kane saw a shot saved by Orjan Nyland, and was then put through by Bellingham, Kane chipped over the goalkeeper to score but then turned to see the linesman's flag, rightly, had gone up for offside. It was a good way for England to end the half though and it was all to play for after the interval.

Declan Rice and Noni Madueke were substituted at the break for Ebereche Eze and Bukayo Saka to come on. The 53rd minute saw Norway score again but that too was ruled out by VAR after a blatant push on Elliot Anderson by Haaland rightly disallowed the goal. Norway were applying pressure on England at this stage and it did look ominous for a time and England had another let-off on 74 minutes when the ball is not cleared and Kristoffer Ajer's header rebounds off the bar.

It was not a good half for England and their players looked dead on their feet at times, but something, call it character, call it mentality, call it what you want, keeps giving England that something that other teams don't have. Ezri Konsa came off near the end of the ninety minutes for Morgan Rogers and the seven added minutes were fraught with fear from both sides not to concede.

Now, all through the game I had been asking myself why does no-one think about long range shooting in this tournament, you know a Bobby Charlton thunderbolt? The extra-time began and three minutes into it I finally had my Bobby moment. Morgan Rogers fired in a shot from 25 yards and Nyland, although behind the shot, then fumbled it, the ball ran loose and Bellingham was once again the man of the moment as he followed up to shoot home.

Almost immediately we all thought England had a penalty as a fine run by substitute Djed Spence ended with Oscar Bobb tripping him up. The referee gave the penalty straight away but then that blasted VAR stepped in to tell the ref to have another look. How he then overturned his decision baffled me and everyone else watching. Still, you win some and lose some with the blessed VAR and this time it was out turn to miss out.

At the end of normal time I really feared for England but Bellingham's goal and other factors saw England suddenly finding the energy they needed to get through the extra time. When Haaland, who had been wandering around like a lost sheep for much of the match, was taken off at the start of the second-half of the extra period, it visibly lifted England another notch. Nyland sort of redeemed himself at one point by making three saves from England attacks in less than a minute.

As for the rest the countdown of 15 minutes seemed like hours but one by one the minutes went past and apart from a few corners and desperate shots the final whistle vanquished all fears for the England fans and we could now let rip. WE WERE THROUGH!!

As I said at the beginning of my report, the England squad have been through much trauma for all sorts of reasons but to finally come through it all to reach a World Cup semi-final, then it has all been worthwhile.
Well done to everyone connected with the team.
  

Source Notes