England 2 (40.9-UK) v. Norway 1 (41)
England looked strong to start off. But, it seemed like Norway ceded the first 20-ish minutes by playing a 4-5-1 during that time. After the hydration break (I hate having to type that), Norway went to a 4-4-2 and started applying more pressure further up the field. As soon as that happened the momentum shifted, England almost gave it away to Haaland in their own box and then Norway built up play to a cross that gave Haaland a great heading opportunity (the ball ended up being hit right to the English goalie so it was not very dangerous in the end). Then, came Norway’s goal. A goal that everyone was surprised about, most particularly the guy who scored the goal. Let’s be clear about something, that was a cross that got miss hit into a perfect tight angle shot into the post and in. How do I know that was a shot? 1) the guy was looking at/towards Haaland before the shot, not towards goal. 2) Haaland had beat his defender and so any cross to him would have been a goal. 3) The chances of someone taking that shot are about 1%.
4) the guy that shot the ball was shocked. 5) the way the ball was hit tells me it was a cross. It was hit with the inside of the left foot with curl away from the goal. That is how you hit a cross because one of the things a good cross does is get the goalie out of position by making him believe he has a chance on the ball, only to have the ball curve further away from him than he thought it would. But, who cares. It was a goal and Norway were up 1-0.
England however, were not phased and were not backing down. In comes Hey Jude Bell Ham You’ve Been. Jude Bellingham is quietly putting together one of the greatest world cup performances you could ever see. Unlike other superstars (Messi, CR7, Mbappe, Haaland, Yamal), Jude plays a central midfield position in which he is active at on both sides of the ball. He covers enormous amounts of ground and is a physical defender. And, on the offensive side he brings a mixtures of finesse and power that has no real comp in the world right now. Hiis first goal of the game (because he got both goals today and has four goals in the last two games. INSANE!) Was one of the best you will ever see.
After that, England nearly got their second of the half, but Kane (off a Bellingham pass) was just offsides.
The second half was a mostly even affair, Norway however had the better chances and got robbed of a goal. Norway scored off a corner but it got called back because of a “foul” by Haaland on a defender as the corner was coming in. It is probably a foul by technical standards, but you could make that call nearly every corner.
Extra time, England got their second because Bellingham is a smart and fundamental player. He followed the shot of another, which is one of the first things you are taught to do, and tapped it in after the goalie had an les-than-ideal block that bounced off of him right in front of him. (It looked like he maybe tried to hold on to the ball but could, a la Belgium goalie that did that last game). The rest of the extra time England held on for the win (and Haaland got subbed off for the last 15 minutes). England go through.
Argentina 3 (34.6) v Switzerland 1 (44.4)
Another game, another controversial referee decision, another Argentine win that is clouded in corruption. (The last game Egypt had a goal called back for a foul that happened 120 yards away from the goal, and Egypt was not given a pk or even a VAR review of a possible pk that looked like a pk).
Switzerland came out strong. But, in the 10th minute Argentina, against the run of play, got a corner and scored. It was a great corner from the greatest player. Then Switzerland took hold of the game again. They were the dominant team. Argentina was just trying to hold on but it was clear, especially in the second half, that it was just a matter of time until the Swiss were going to score. And then what was Argentina going to do? The Swiss did get their goal in the 67th minute. Things were tied 1-1. Then came the controversy.
In the 72 min, Swiss’s striker got the ball and seemed to have been fouled hard. The ref immorality gave the Argentine player a yellow card. Then VAR reviewed the foul. It was clear that the Swiss striker had not been touched and had flopped. So, based on the precedent set by the Tim Ream reversal in the first game against Paraguay, the yellow card was taken away from the Argentine and given to the Swiss. The problem was that the Swiss striker already had one yellow, and so the second yellow meant he got a red and was sent off the field. The Swiss were made to play with 10 players only.
My problem with this matter is not necessarily the reversal, but rather that VAR exists to make this reversal a possibility. At no other time in soccer history do you get what happened last night. I don’t know that means the history was right and today was wrong, but I do know that VAR has no feel for the game. Soccer has always been a game, like nearly every other sport, where rules exist but game flow also mattered. Refs understand the game and 9 out of 10 times would not give a second yellow if the reason for it was not obvious and/or egregious. Now, we have VAR looking at everything from an “objective” point of view but from a million angles and at individual frames. We do not need to be re-refeering a game. Referee mistakes are part of the game. What we want is something that just says when a clear and obvious mistake was made. In this instance, just take away the Argentina yellow and give them the ball. There is no need to give the Swiss a yellow.
The rest of the game was Argentina’s. They almost won the game in regular time, but then in extra time they put things to bed. Swiss had a couple of chances, to their credit, but they were not particularly dangerous and the writing was on the wall. Argentina win.
Next Games
We now have until Tuesday for the first semifinal game.
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