Bellingham heroics edge England past Norway and into World Cup semis

Miami, United States: Jude Bellingham was England's hero once more by scoring twice as the Three Lions came from behind to end Norway's historic run and reach the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 win after extra-time on Saturday.

In their first ever quarter-final, Andreas Schjelderup fired Norway into a shock lead in the searing Miami heat. freshyourfeel.org

But Bellingham, who also netted a double in a memorable 3-2 over Mexico in the last 16, produced a moment of magic to equalise just before half-time.

Norway had a second goal controversially disallowed after a VAR review in the second half for a foul by Erling Haaland as both sets of players were pushed to their physical limits by going to extra-time.

Bellingham came up with another big moment as he pounced on an error by Orjan Nyland to sweep in his sixth goal of the tournament.

England will face Argentina or Switzerland on Wednesday for the chance to reach a first World Cup final in 60 years.

Haaland's spectacular run of scoring in his last 14 competitive matches for Norway came to an end against the land of his birth with Norway's exhausted talisman replaced at half-time of extra-time.

Having failed to win a World Cup knockout game after conceding first since the final of 1966 before this tournament, England have now done so twice in three matches.

Energy-sapping heat

Harry Kane's heroics prevented an embarrassing early exit to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 32.

But it is Bellingham who has stood up in the past two matches to keep England in the hunt to end their long wait for major tournament glory despite far from flawless performances.

The 5:00 pm local time (2100 GMT) kick-off in Florida meant that temperatures remained above 30 degrees Celsius throughout, with intense humidity making for draining conditions for the players.

The heat looked as if it would spoil the spectacle in the first half.

Thomas Tuchel's men were rattled as England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saved low from Martin Odegaard before Alexander Sorloth wasted a glorious chance when he failed to feed Haaland and instead went for goal himself.

Almost immediately Bellingham pulled his team out of the mire once more.

Bellingham had been well marshalled until he collected Anthony Gordon's pass, burst into the box at speed and then slotted home on his weaker left foot.

Momentum was suddenly in England's favour and they nearly went into the break ahead.

Bellingham was this time the creator for Kane, who dinked the ball coolly over Nyland, but had just drifted offside.

Tuchel introduced Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze at the break for the ineffective Noni Madueke and Declan Rice -- the Arsenal midfielder had been suffering with illness earlier in the week.

But those changes left England light in midfield and they were left hanging on at spells in the second half.

Torbjorn Heggem made the most of some sloppy defending to turn in at the back post, but Haaland was penalised for a push on new Manchester City teammate Elliott Anderson before the corner had been taken, and the goal was disallowed.

Norway were inches away from a winner again when Kristoffer Ajer hit the bar after England fail to deal with another dangerous corner.

Both sides visibly wilted in the energy-sapping conditions late on but were forced to endure an extra 30 minutes.

Nyland had been Norway's supporting act in the last 16 win over Brazil with a series of saves before Haaland struck twice late on for a landmark victory.

This time the Sevilla goalkeeper was the villain as he spilled substitute Morgan Rogers' shot from distance and Bellingham pounced and scored.

England were awarded a penalty moments later, but this time VAR intervened in Norway's favour to deem Djed Spence had initiated contact inside the box.

Yet, Norway's spirit was already crushed, epitomised by a slouched Haaland watching on from the bench with nothing more to give.

يسير المنتخب المغربي لكرة القدم على خطى نسخة 2022 عندما بلغ دور الأربعة في إنجاز إفريقي وعربي غير مسبوق، بفوزه على اسكتلندا 1-0 .
بعد تعادل بطعم الانتصار على البرازيل 1-1 في الجولة الأولى، حقق «أسود الأطلس» انتصارهم الأول في النسخة الحالية والسادس في تاريخ مشاركاتهم في العرس العالمي واضعين قدما في دور الـ32 بانتظار مباراتهم الثالثة الأخيرة ضد هايتي التي خرجت من المنافسة.
حتى الآن مشوارهم مشابه لما فعلوه قبل في مونديال قطر، عندما افتتحوا النهائيات بتعادل ثمين مع كرواتيا (0-0)، ثم تغلبوا على بلجيكا 2-0، قبل الفوز على كندا 2-1 في الجولة الثالثة.
وشدد المدرب الجديد للمغرب على «أننا لم نتأهل حتى الآن وبالتالي لا مجال للمداورة في المباراة الثالثة، يجب أن أدفع بالتشكيلة الأفضل لكسبها بالنظر إلى جاهزية اللاعبين ولاعبي المنتخب المنافس، والأكيد أن الجاهز والقادر على مساعدتنا لتحقيق الفوز على هايتي سيكون أساسيا».
وأضاف «بصراحة أنا مرتاح جيدا بالمقارنة مع المباراة الأولى ضد البرازيل، لقد رأيت تحسنا كبيرا وسنكون أحسن في المباراة الثالثة. هذه هي جمالية المونديال عندما تواجه منافسين يخلقون لك مشكلات مختلفة، ونهاية مباراة اليوم ستساعدنا في المباراة الأخيرة».
قال عقب الفوز على اسكتلندا «عندما تسلمت تدريب المنتخب المغربي أردت أن أبرز بصمتي ومبادئي الكروية من خلال الاعتماد على العديد من الأفكار التي أؤمن بها».
وأضاف «معرفتي الجيدة باللاعبين وبقدرة كل واحد منهم على القيام بالأدوار المنوطة بهم سهَّل مهمتي وساعدني في تكوين تشكيلة تبلي البلاء الحسن في الملعب». وتابع «صيباري صانع للألعاب بمعنى الرقم 10، وعز الدين أوناحي، بلال الخنوس وابراهيم دياس كذلك وبالتالي يملكون الحس التهديفي وبإمكانهم هز الشباك في أي لحظة».

Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s Seifeldin Mohamed Abdelsalam produced a dominant performance to win the men’s pole vault gold medal at the inaugural Asian U23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China, yesterday.

The 21-year-old cleared 5.45 metres to secure the title, finishing ahead of China’s Rui Liu, who took silver with a best effort of 5.20m. Kazakhstan’s Maxim Balabin completed the podium after clearing 5.05m, a personal best.

Abdelsalam was flawless throughout the competition, clearing 5.20m, 5.35m and the winning height of 5.45m on his first attempts. After confirming the gold medal, the Qatari raised the bar to 5.76m in an attempt to improve his mark, but could not clear the height in three attempts.

Liu cleared 5.05m and 5.20m on his second attempts before bowing out after failing to negotiate 5.35m, while Balabin cleared 5.05m before exiting the competition at 5.20m.

The victory marked another promising achievement for Qatar’s young athletics talent, with Abdelsalam leading the national team’s challenge at the first edition of the continental U23 championship.

Qatar are competing in Ordos with a group of promising athletes across several events, including Ahmed Jabreen (shot put), Khaled Hussein Sabaki (400m and 4x400m relay), Zakaria Ibrahim (3000m steeplechase and 1500m), Hatem Hamid (800m and 4x400m relay), Salah Younis (100m), Omar Daoud (110m hurdles), Abdulrahman Mohammed (400m hurdles and 4x400m relay) and Mubarak Abdulkarim (400m and 4x400m relay).

London: Smriti Mandhana's sparkling unbeaten fifty led India to 122-3 against England at lunch on the opening day of the inaugural women's Test at Lord's on Friday.

Mandhana was 56 not out after making a run-a-ball fifty including eight fours and a six, with India sent in to bat.

Harmanpreet Kaur, the India captain, was unbeaten on 14.

After 142 years -- and 150 matches -- of men's Test cricket at the London ground, this four-day fixture represents another landmark in the evolution of a now fast-developing women's game.

This match is also taking place 50 years after the first major women's match at Lord's, a one-day international between England and Australia.

Members of the England team that day gathered on the outfield Friday to ring the five-minute bell signalling the start of play.

In contrast to that 1976 team, England were playing their second match at Lord's in under a week following their defeat by arch-rivals Australia in Sunday's T20 World Cup final -- with India knocked out of the tournament by the eventual champions in a group-stage game at the same ground.

And in a feat women cricketers of the amateur era could scarcely have envisaged, Friday's match meant Mandhana became the youngest women to feature in 300 international games across all formats at the age of 29 years and 357 days.

But before Mandhana got going, opening partner Shafali Verma suffered the disappointment of a duck when well-caught by diving wicketkeeper Amy Jones off Lauren Filer.

Left-hander Mandhana, however, cover-drove Lauren Bell for several fours in classic style and also pulled the fast bowler to the boundary and later slog-swept spinner Sophie Ecclestone for six.

Yastika Bhatia (12) was bowled by a superb Bell delivery that swung in and seamed away.

But Jemimah Rodrigues helped Mandhana put on 64 for the third-wicket before she unluckily dragged on against Issy Wong for 35.

VANCOUVER: Egypt earned the first World Cup win in their history by beating New Zealand 3-1 on Sunday, putting them on track to reach the knockout round for the first time.
Mohamed Salah, Mostafa Zico and Trezeguet were Egypt’s scorers after Finn Surman had given New Zealand the lead after 15 minutes of the Group G match in Vancouver.
The victory puts Egypt top of Group G on four points and needing just a draw against Iran in Seattle on Friday to move into the last 32.