Jude Bellingham showed his talents by scoring four goals in the knockout stage of the World Cup, reminiscent of Diego Maradona’s brilliance in 1986. (Photo/ANI)
Forty years ago in Mexico, Diego Maradona scored twice against England and twice against Belgium in successive World Cup knockout stages. On Sunday in Miami, Jude Bellingham did exactly the same thing.Bellingham became the first player since Maradona in 1986 to score two or more goals in two consecutive matches in the knockout stages of the same World Cup, completing back-to-back braces against Mexico in the round of 16 at the Azteca and Norway in the quarter-finals on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium. England won 2-1, booking their place in the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1990.
The comparison with Maradona is as exceptional as it is apt.
In 1986, at that World Cup final in Mexico, Maradona scored twice against England in one of the most famous matches of all time, including the Hand of God and Goal of the Century, and then followed it up with another brace against Belgium in the semi-final. No player in the past 40 years has been able to achieve the same feat of successive knockout matches in a single tournament.
Even Bellingham.Against Norway, Bellingham was the ultimate difference-maker, but it took every bit of drama the World Cup had to offer before he could achieve that.
Norway struck first. In the 36th minute, Andreas Schildrup fired a wonderful shot from the right post and into the net, stunning the England team, which controlled the ball. Then came one of the most controversial moments of the tournament. The Norwegian’s goal kick appeared to hit an aerial camera cable before falling to Elliot Anderson, who quickly sent Bellingham through for a low equalizer just before half-time.
Under tournament rules, play should have been stopped for dropping the ball, but the offense went unnoticed, sparking angry protests from the Norwegian bench.The match went to extra time. Then, in the third minute of the extra period, Bellingham handed the ball over. Morgan Rogers unleashed a toxic shot which Orjan Nyland failed to catch cleanly and Bellingham pounced on the rebound to put England ahead. It was his sixth goal of the tournament, moving him level with teammate Harry Kane and putting him just two goals behind Golden Boot leaders Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi.Jordan Pickford was equally heroic throughout, blocking a shot from Haaland in the first half to keep England level. By the second half of extra time, an exhausted Haaland, who drew 0-0 for the first time in the tournament, was replaced by Jørgen Strand-Larsen, signaling the end of Norway’s biggest threat.England in the World Cup semi-finals. They face Argentina or Switzerland in Arlington, Texas, on Wednesday. Leading the charge is a young man from Stourbridge who is creating the kind of history that only legends can make.