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For a few days, this was the best Golden Boot race in living memory. Four legends, separated by two goals, all still alive. Then Saturday in Miami thinned the field in the most dramatic way possible. Erling Haaland is gone. Norway’s dream ended in extra time, England winning, 2-1, and the man who had scored in every single match his country played was finally, mercifully for defenders, held quiet. Seven goals, a historic run to the quarterfinals, and now a plane home. The most efficient scorer the sport has produced never got his shootout at the top. Cruel game. His conqueror complicated things too. Jude Bellingham scored twice against Norway — including the extra-time winner — to reach six goals and pull level with his own teammate, Harry Kane. So England now carries two men on six into a semifinal. Neither is out of it. Both would need a historic run over two games to catch the leaders. Not impossible. Not likely. Because the leaders are who we always suspected they’d be. Lionel Messi has eight after being held in check in the 2–1 quarterfinals win over Switzerland. Kylian Mbappé also has eight after adding to his account in the 2-0 quarterfinals win over Morocco. The same number they finished on in Qatar four years ago, when Mbappé’s hat trick in the final edged Messi by a single goal and left the Argentine without the one trophy his cabinet never held. The Golden Boot is the lone individual honor missing from the greatest résumé the game has ever seen. Four years later, here it is again, dangling in front of Messi, with the same Frenchman standing in the way. The parallels this week bordered on absurd. Both men missed a knockout penalty. Both responded by scoring anyway. Messi’s spot-kick was saved against Egypt in the round of 16 clash before he dragged Argentina back from 2-0 down with an 83rd-minute equalizer. Mbappé went the same direction from the spot against Morocco, watched Yassine Bounou save it, then curled in his eighth of the tournament twenty minutes later. Great players don’t dodge failure. They just refuse to let it be the headline. Here’s the wrinkle that decides everything: Mbappé is technically ahead. FIFA breaks tournament ties on assists, and Mbappé has three to Messi’s two. If both finish level on goals, the boot goes to France on a tiebreaker most fans have never heard of. Imagine explaining that to Just Fontaine, who scored 13 in six games in the 1958 World Cup for France with a single pair of boots and no penalties, and still holds the record no one will touch. The stakes are almost as high as the trophy itself. Messi, at 39, is the all-time World Cup scoring leader with 21 goals. Mbappé sits on 20, one behind, at 27 years old. Every goal either player scores now moves two leaderboards at once — the Golden Boot and the record book. There is no such thing as a meaningless finish for these two anymore. And the fixtures are lining up for a reunion nobody would dare script. France plays Spain in the semifinal Tuesday. If both win, Messi and Mbappé meet in the final in New York on July 19 — the ghost of Lusail in Qatar resurrected, four years and one continent later, with a Golden Boot and a World Cup on the same table. Haaland gave us the fireworks. Bellingham and Kane still lurk. But this was always going to come down to the two men who turned the 2022 final into a duel and never really stopped. Messi chasing the one award he’s yet to capture. Mbappé right there with him. Fontaine’s record is safe. Everything else is up for grabs. And we get to watch the same two titans settle it one more time.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

To the dismay of England’s biggest haters, it might be finally coming home. England took down Norway in extra time in the quarterfinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, winning 2-1. But as the Three Lions didn’t need penalty kicks to advance, there were enough things that went down in Saturday’s match that could lead to England’s critics to say that it got lucky. That’s how former Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel certainly felt about England’s win. “England, they’ve gotten over the line. Were they great today? No, absolutely not. I think Norway were the better team,” Schmeichel said on FOX Sports’ “World Cup Now.” “But England have, as I keep saying, this star quality. They have the small margins that go their way. And you have to pull those margins onto your way when you’ve got incredibly good players.” Of course, former England star Peter Crouch found that statement to be a bit blasphemous. “No doubt England were the better side. No doubt,” Crouch said. “They defended and managed the game the way they needed to, created chances and towards the end, they brought in substitutions. … That’s how you win football matches, and England did that.” On the stat sheet, England had a clear edge. The Three Lions won the possession battle (52-48), expected goals (0.96-0.77), shots on target (8-4) and accurate pass percentage (91-85). However, England was on the right side of arguably the match’s two biggest calls. England’s first goal came after Norway goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland’s goal kick might have hit a cable wire. If it did, there should’ve been a VAR check, but there wasn’t one. In the second half, Norway’s goal that would’ve given it a 2-1 lead was disallowed after it was determined Erling Haaland committed a foul before a corner kick following a VAR check. Schmeichel was mystified that a foul was called on Haaland’s push of England midfielder Elliot Anderson on that play. “If I get pushed over like that, I’d be embarrassed,” Schmeichel said. “It’s funny that the English used to hate that, but now you’re applauding it. “I’m probably just a Danish who just likes tough football.” Crouch, again, disagreed. “He’s put two hands on him, he’s pushed him over. I don’t know what more you want, it’s a definite foul,” Crouch said. “He’s got two hands on him and he’s pushing him over. What do you want him to do there? Stand there? You have to go down to get the foul. If you don’t, then you don’t get.” Still, Schmeichel thought that England embellished contact for much of Saturday’s match. “They’ve had massive success in getting fouls, I’ll tell you that,” Schmeichel said. “It’s funny that 20 years ago, all the English used to hate it and say that the foreigners were diving. “I feel like Norway has been very unlucky. There’s been some key decisions that have gone against them.” As Schmeichel continued to iterate that England was lucky, midfielder Jude Bellingham showed off his star ability in the Three Lions’ win. He scored both goals in the victory, scoring on his weak foot on an impressive goal before his determination helped him score the game-winning goal in extra time. With the two goals, Bellingham now has six goals in the tournament. He now only trails Lionel Messi (8), Kylian Mbappé (8) and Erling Haaland (7) in the Golden Boot race. “Look at the players on that list … they don’t give you much defensively. Bellingham, he gets around the pitch,” Crouch said of Bellingham’s standing in the Golden Boot race. “He does his work. He makes clearances. He dribbles with the ball. He can set goals up and he’s got six goals. You believe he’s gonna score every single game now. I believe he believes as well.” Bellingham has also scored four goals in the last two matches. He opened up the scoring in England’s impressive victory over Mexico in the round of 16, as the Three Lions are now onto the semifinals at the World Cup. “I’m so proud of the lads. Thankfully, I was able to go to into the camp and they’re such good lads,” Crouch said. “There’s a real togetherness. They’ve dragged themselves through what was really tough conditions today. They were amazing in the Azteca. They’ve performed when they’ve needed to. Their players have produced when they’ve needed to. It’s a semifinal for the England team. It’s incredible.” And as for Schmeichel, former England women’s national team star Alex Scott has an idea of how to handle the haters like him. “We need to get Kasper some drinks later,” Scott quipped.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Jude Bellingham, the young boy who got his start at Birmingham City, is now on top of the football world with Real Madrid and the England national team. Bellingham is the all-around midfielder everyone wants on their roster. He has the ability to always be in the right place at the right time with late runs into the box to score goals; he has the ball-carrying ability of a No. 8; and he has the work rate and defensive capabilities to do the dirty work in midfield as well. A true jack of all trades in the middle of the pitch, Bellingham has become the type of player every manager appreciates because of how many different ways he can impact a game. Now in his second World Cup, Bellingham has already scored six goals, including a brace against Norway in the quarterfinals and a brace against Mexico in the round of 16. Both performances were pivotal in England’s progression to the semifinals. Every time England has needed him most, Bellingham has come up with a big moment. He has been one of the most clutch performers at this World Cup, and whenever England has needed a moment of magic, Bellingham has answered the call. Here is a look back at how Bellingham became England’s superstar midfielder. Birmingham Beginnings Bellingham’s rise started at Birmingham City, where he came through the academy before making his professional debut at just 16 years old in August 2019. In his breakout 2019-20 season, Bellingham made 44 appearances across all competitions and became Birmingham City’s youngest-ever player and youngest-ever goalscorer. It did not take long for him to rise up the ranks as one of the best young prospects in England. After just one first-team season at Birmingham, Bellingham earned a move to Borussia Dortmund. Birmingham later retired his No. 22 shirt, a rare gesture for such a young player, but one that showed how highly the club viewed what he had already done and what he was going on to become. Dazzling At Dortmund Bellingham had the chance to make a safer Premier League move, as many Championship players would have done. Instead, he chose the riskier path, but the one that could potentially pay off the most: going abroad to Germany. He made the move to Borussia Dortmund, a talent factory that has developed many young players into stars. For Bellingham, it turned out to be a brilliant decision. Rather than taking the move that may have looked more pleasing initially, he chose the club that could help shape him into the player he wanted to become. Dortmund paid a record fee for a 17-year-old to sign him in July 2020, and Bellingham spent three seasons in Germany. During that time, he won the DFB-Pokal, became one of the faces of the club and was named Bundesliga Player of the Season in 2022-23. He also came painfully close to winning the Bundesliga title in his final season, only for Dortmund to lose out on the final matchday in heartbreaking fashion. But even without that league title, his three years at Dortmund opened the door for him to make the move to a European giant. Moving To Madrid Bellingham joined Real Madrid in July 2023, and his debut season could not have gotten off to a much better start. He registered 23 goals and 13 assists across all competitions in his first season and helped Real Madrid win La Liga and the Champions League. That Champions League triumph came against his former club Borussia Dortmund, with Bellingham assisting Vinícius Júnior’s goal in the final. In that Champions League campaign, Bellingham had four goals and five assists, showing that his move to Madrid did not just put him on a bigger stage — it elevated him into one of the defining players in world football. Bellingham again showed guts and ambition by choosing Real Madrid when Premier League clubs were calling his name. As an English player, it would have been easy to return home and become the face of a major Premier League club. Instead, he chose the uncomfortable path again, moving to Spain to play for one of the biggest clubs in football. That has been the theme of Bellingham’s career. He is not the typical English player. He has shown multiple times that he is willing to take the unique path away from English football, develop abroad in different countries and sharpen his craft elsewhere. That started with Dortmund. Then came the ultimate move to Real Madrid, where he became just the sixth English player to play for the club after Laurie Cunningham, Steve McManaman, David Beckham, Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate. Trent Alexander-Arnold has since joined him at Real Madrid, but Bellingham helped reopen that pathway for English players at the Bernabéu. Bellingham has shown he is willing to do the uncomfortable things to get to the very top, and now he is there. If he can help England win this World Cup, he can truly say he has completed football at just 23 years old. He has won trophies in multiple countries, won the Champions League, become a star for Real Madrid and now has England on the brink of a World Cup final. His legacy already looks strong. But if England goes all the way, it will reach a completely different level.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

MIAMI STADIUM — England is headed to the 2026 FIFA World Cup semifinals for the second time in eight years. On a sweltering Saturday in South Florida, where the temperature before kickoff at 5 p.m. local time hovered higher than 90 degrees, the Three Lions came back from a 1-0 deficit to eliminate upstart Norway and its superhero of a striker, Manchester City goal-machine Erling Haaland. Two goals by English star Jude Bellingham — the second in the third minute of extra time — saw the Three Lions advance after Andreas Schjelderup opened the scoring against the run of play in the first half. Bellingham canceled out Schjelderup’s strike with a spectacular equalizer just before the intermission, then added the winner when Norwegian keeper Ørjan Nyland failed to corral the rebound from Morgan Rogers’ powerful shot. “World-class,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said of Bellingham’s big night. “A world-class performance from a world-class player in big, big moments – crucial moments.” Here are my four takeaways from England’s victory over Norway: 1. Jude Bellingham Was The Difference For England Halfway through the additional 30 minutes played in Miami, a quick look at the stats told the story. Both sides had 10 shots. Both had directed half of them on-target. Both teams had a goal called back earlier in the game — the Three Lions because they were offside, Norway after the video assistant flagged a foul committed by Haaland just before what looked like a potential game-winner. (VAR also denied England a penalty attempt after Bellingham’s second that could’ve ended the contest there and then.) Still, in a game billed as a battle between Haaland and Harry Kane — probably the best two pure scorers on the planet — Bellingham stole the show for the second England match running. “It’s nice to have an impact and to help my team,” he said. After scoring twice in last weekend’s thrilling 3-2 win over co-hosts Mexico at the iconic Estadio Azteca — known as Mexico City Stadium during the World Cup — Bellingham again came alive when his country needed him most. His first goal was a team play that he finished with a flash of individual brilliance, his second a clinic in anticipation and timing and execution. In a match where the margins were razor-thin, he is the reason England is off to Atlanta for the World Cup semifinal, while Norway is going home. “His mentality is what puts him on that level,” keeper Jordan Pickford said. 2. Still, Hats Off To Erling Haaland And Norway Never before had Norway made a World Cup quarterfinal. It hadn’t even qualified for the biggest event in sports this century before finally making it back this summer. Even then — and even with Haaland spearheading the attack and Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard running the show behind them — nobody expected much from the Drillos. Norway was ranked 32nd by FIFA in January. It was 31st when this World Cup kicked off exactly a month ago. Yet on the field and off, the Norwegians were one of the best stories of this World Cup. Videos of their fans taking over Times Square and executing their choreographed “Viking Row” on escalators and New York City subways endeared them to locals there, and in Boston, in Dallas and here in Miami. Norway beat Senegal and Ivory Coast and then eliminated five-time champions Brazil. And none of it was a fluke. It may have lost to England on Saturday, but it won the hearts of neutrals all over America and in countries in every corner of the globe. These Vikings and their incredible supporters can and will row back across the Atlantic with their heads held high. Even in defeat, on a quiet night that ended when he was subbed out in extra time, Haaland left his mark. “Everyone,” Pickford said, “Knows how good a player Earling is.” 3. Argentina Awaits For Kane & Co. Tuchel’s squad had  wait a few hours to find out which opponent it’ll meet in Atlanta on Wednesday, with the Three Lions slated to face the winner of Saturday’s nightcap in Kansas City between Messi’s Albiceleste and Switzerland. Of course, it’s the defending champs. Despite being an ocean apart, Argentina and England have a long and storied rivalry on the global stage. Diego Maradona’s famous “Goal of the Century” slalom and infamous “Hand of God” strike in 1986 came in the same quarterfinal game vs. England. Argentina also knocked the Three Lions out in the quarters in 1998 following a red card by David Beckham. Four years later, Beckham — the current Inter Miami co-owner who was in the house on Saturday — scored a penalty that helped beat Argentina en route to La Albiceleste’s shocking group stage exit. Tensions between the sides haven’t been limited to soccer, either, as the two countries fought a 74-day war in 1982 over the control of the Falkland Islands off Argentina’s coast. Now, for the first time, they’ll play each other with a trip to the World Cup final at stake. 4. Is This Finally England’s Year? It’s been 60 years this month since the country that invented the sport won its only World Cup. It’s also the only final they’ve ever appeared in. The Three Lions have also never won a European Championship, although they were the losing finalists in 2021 (to Italy) and Spain (2024) at the last two Euros. Now, under German manager Tuchel, they’ll play for the right to get back to the biggest title match there is. It’s only England’s fourth trip to the semis ever. The last two didn’t go well; Croatia knocked the Three Lions out in 2018. Back in 1990, they lost to eventual champ West Germany on penalties. Despite the English Premier League establishing itself as soccer’s top domestic circuit, that’s as close as the country’s national team has come in the last six decades. On Wednesday in Atlanta, we’ll see they can get one step closer to reaching the mountaintop – and to bringing  football home. “Now it’s just about recovering,” Tuchel said. “The next three days are crucial, of course, to be ready. But this victory will help a lot.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports