Jude Bellingham sets up grudge match as England two wins from immortality | Football | Sport

Third time lucky! July 11 hasn’t been kind to the England national team. It was the same date they were upset by Croatia, when they were denied a spot in the 2018 World Cup final, and also when Italy stunned Wembley in a penalty shootout to win the Euro 2021 final five years ago. There was the real threat here, when this match went to extra time, that Norway would turn this day in the calendar into an even more cursed date.

Instead, for just the fourth time in England’s entire history, they will play in a World Cup semi-final. In 1966, Sir Alf Ramsey’s Three Lions defeated Portugal before going on to beat West Germany in the final. In 1990, it was heartbreak at the hands of the Germans on penalties. While 2018, as we said, ended in that humbling defeat to Croatia. In 2026, either Lionel Messi’s Argentina or Switzerland await in the final four. England are now just two wins from immortality. But one of those wins might have to come against the Greatest Of All Time – Lionel Messi. Yet Thomas Tuchel’s men have belief coursing through their veins after once again digging deep.

They have overcome several major challenges in North America. Jude Bellingham stood up when it mattered against Croatia. He and Harry Kane were the go-to men again against the deep-defending Panamanians. Kane put his Superman cloak back on in the round of 32 with a brilliant late brace to down DR Congo.

Bellingham and Kane were the headline heroes in a thriller against Mexico. They weren’t the only heroes, though, as England – down to 10 men – secured arguably the greatest win on foreign soil in their history at the Azteca Stadium. Surprise, surprise then that there was a familiar headline-maker here.

Erling Haaland‘s Norway were another very tough test, having dumped out Brazil in their previous match. They went 1-0 up. And for the first time this tournament, England were taken to extra time after Bellingham had brought his country level.

Tuchel’s charges came from a goal behind for the second time in three knockout matches in North America. And the tensions were palpable as normal time concluded. Yet again they had the brilliant Bellingham to thank as he scored a crucial winner when he was first to a rebound.

If they are to win this tournament the Birmingham boy, still unbelievably only 23 years old, will obviously be crucial. The Real Madrid player has supplied six goals and an assist in six appearances. Four of them have put England in front. He’s having as good an individual major tournament as perhaps any England player ever.

Bellingham is now the first midfielder ever to score five or more goals at a single World Cup. He joins Gary Lineker and Harry Kane, two of the country’s greatest ever goalscorer, as only the third player ever to do so. And his match-winning brace

Now their biggest obstacle yet awaits, potentially against the wily Argentines, in a grudge match guaranteed to have a tense political backdrop. The reaction this week to Gary Lineker calling the Falklands ‘Malvinas’ – the Spanish name Argentina uses for the remote South Atlantic archipelago – proves that already.

It would be only the fourth time since the Falklands War in 1982 that they play a competitive match, should Argentina beat Switzerland. The three-time champions knocked England out in the 1986 World Cup, with Diego Maradona’s famously disgraceful Hand of God goal, and in 1998 on penalties after David Beckham’s equally memorable red card.

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In 2002, Beckham got some personal revenge with a winner in a 1-0 win in South Korea that helped send the South Americans home. Since then though, they have played just one match – a friendly in November 2005 which England won 3-2 thanks to a late Michael Owen brace.

Messi was banned for that one because he was sent off on his international debut a few months earlier for catching an opponent with an elbow, only 40 seconds after coming off the bench. That means, incredibly, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner has never played against England even though he’s now 39 years old.

He’s played 204 times for Argentina, producing 125 goals and 65 assists. But he’s never had an opportunity to strut his stuff against the Three Lions. He may not be the tour de force he was 10 years ago, but make no mistake: he remains an absolutely phenomenal footballer. Hence why he’s the joint leader for the Golden Boot.

The heated rivalry between the nations means a friendly simply hasn’t been on the cards. The intensity of the dislike stems way back to 1966, when Argentina felt Antonio Rattin was unfairly dismissed in a quarter-final against England at the old Wembley.

Rattin was shown red for dissent and refused to leave the pitch for almost 10 minutes before being escorted off by police. The city of Atlanta would be wise to have police across the city for Wednesday if it is indeed England vs Argentina.

But if Tuchel’s lions can roar past Messi and co then, regardless of whether it is Spain or France who await in the final, the belief that football’s coming home will surge through this nation like a tsunami. And it could just wash the French or the Spanish away.