Bellingham fires England into semifinals, Argentina joins top-ranked quartet

Jude Bellingham dragged England into the World Cup semifinals with two goals in a 2-1 extra-time victory over Norway at Miami Stadium, turning a tense quarter-final into a statement result for Thomas Tuchel’s side. Andreas Schjelderup had put Norway ahead in the 36th minute, but Bellingham levelled in first-half stoppage time, then settled it in the 93rd minute with the winning finish.

FIFA named Bellingham the player of the match, and the result carried extra weight because Norway had reached the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in its history. FIFA had framed the matchup as a duel between Bellingham and Erling Haaland, former teammates and close friends, while England arrived as group winner under Tuchel and kept its title charge alive on the sport’s biggest stage.

Argentina followed one day later in Kansas City Stadium, beating Switzerland in another quarter-final decided in extra time and against a team reduced to 10 men. FIFA highlighted Julián Álvarez’s golazo as the defining moment of the win, while Alexis Mac Allister and Lautaro Martínez also scored for Lionel Scaloni’s side, which defended its crown as reigning world champion.

The two results completed a rare convergence at the top of the draw. For the first time, the semifinal field is made up of the four highest-ranked men’s teams in FIFA’s June standings: Argentina, Spain, England and France. Argentina had reclaimed the No. 1 spot on June 11, 2026, just before the tournament opened, and now moves deeper into a title defence that began with the weight of being the world’s top-ranked side.

The broader scale of the competition has added to the attention around every knockout round. The 2026 World Cup is the first to feature 48 teams, 104 matches and three host nations, Canada, Mexico and the United States, which has spread the tournament across a larger stage and amplified the pressure on the sport’s most visible brands.

England’s path and Argentina’s advance now place generational names, national expectation and global ranking into the same semifinal frame, with the final four carrying both sporting quality and the commercial reach that comes with it.