Morning everyone.
A quick Sunday round-up for you, and England’s Arsenal contingent continue at the World Cup after a 2-1 win over Norway last night. Declan Rice started despite reports of illness, and I think it’s fair to say you could tell he wasn’t 100%. He looked ok in possession, but when he can’t take a good corner (perhaps for fear of a Gary Lineker style follow through), you know he’s not right. He lasted 45 minutes before being replaced at the break.
At that point it was 1-1. Norway went ahead through Andreas Schjelderup’s cross-shot which clattered in off the post, after Harry Kane had tried to buy a free kick in midfield (it was another classic Kane dive). Jordan Pickford wasn’t great on it either. But just before the break Jude Bellingham drew England level with a very well taken goal. There’s some controversy around the equaliser though, as it looked as if the ball hit an overhead cable, with Norway’s coach Stale Solbakken insistent it happened despite the fact referee Leandro Trossard Clement Turpin allowing play to continue:
He said that he didn’t see it himself and that he didn’t get any message that it actually happened. Since Fifa says that there was no touch, he can’t do anything about it. But the ball fell down straight in front of the bench, so it did. Everyone saw what happened. I think it’s pretty clear that it did. it was a strange thing.
Video evidence isn’t at all conclusive, FIFA say their technology (which I instinctively distrust) shows no touch on anything, but clearly the trajectory of the ball is quite odd. Wind? Still, England still had a bit to do after the ball dropped, and while I think the defending was not great, Bellingham really made the most of that opportunity with a fine run and finish. Norway will also rue a great opportunity missed not long previously when Alexander Sorloth, a man whose surname sounds like a pit Jabba the Hut throws errant bounty hunters into, chose not to pass to Erling Haaland who would have had a one-on-one chance to make it 2-0.
Rice came off at half-time, as I mentioned, but so too did Noni Madueke after a quite indifferent 45 minutes, and the two Arsenal players were replaced by club teammates Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka. Norway did have the ball in the net again, but the goal was ruled out after a VAR check deemed Haaland had pushed Elliot Anderson. I think it’s quite soft, to be honest, but you can see why it was given, and there was a real let off for England when Kristoffer Ajer’s header hit the bar with Jordan Pickford beaten all ends up.
It went to extra-time and early in the first period Bellingham struck again. Morgan Rogers whacked in a speculative a shot from distance, but goalkeeper Orjan Nyland, who should have dealt with it comfortably, spilled it back into a dangerous area. In similar fashion to Mikel Merino for Spain, Bellingham was there to tuck home the rebound, and to score what would turn out to be the winning goal. He’s had a really impressive tournament so far, and in the hypothetical game of ‘If you could sign any player in the world for Arsenal’, he’d be very high on my list.
England had a penalty awarded and then ruled out by a VAR check, but Norway just couldn’t find another way through, so Thomas Tuchel’s side go on to the semi-finals to face Argentina after their 3-1 win over Switzerland. This was on too late for me to watch, but it also went to extra-time after finishing 1-1 in normal time. Switzerland’s hopes were not helped by Breel Embolo receiving a second yellow card for a really silly dive. It came just a few minutes after they’d equalised too, and in extra-time Julian Alvarez scored a brilliant goal to put Argentina ahead, before a late strike from Latauro Martinez sealed the deal.
So, the semi-finals are France v Spain on Tuesday and England v Argentina on Wednesday . There’s Arsenal interest in both games, although obviously Martin Odegaard is now out and can go take some holidays before returning for pre-season. Let’s see how well Declan Rice recovers from the bug he had, and I think England are at a point where a half-fit Saka is probably a better bet for them in a game of that magnitude than Noni, but we’ll find out in due course how it all pans out.
So, I’ll leave it there for today, and for your listening pleasure we will have an Arsecast Extra for you a bit later. James remains on Chicago time so we’ll be recording in the morning for him, which means the pod will be out late afternoon in this part of the world. We’ll put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com in little while, so when that happens fire away using the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.
For now, have a good one.
