Bellingham Saves England! Three Lions Beat Norway 2-1 | World Cup Quarterfinal Reaction

Project 90 Soccer: We are live, Marco. Welcome to the Project Ninety podcast. My name is Antonio, and I'm here with, as always, my brother, Marco. Marco, how you doing?

Marco: Doing great man. Just finished watching the Norway England game and didn't disappoint.

Project 90 Soccer: Dude, dude, holy Santa Claus shit. It did not disappoint. I got a lot to talk about. before we get into it though, I want to let everyone know, go to Project90Soccer.com, find our socials, our streaming platforms everywhere. follow, like, subscribe, comment. We want to hear from everybody. Marco, Norway versus England. Okay. A lot of this game had everything, right? Had goals, had disallowed goals, had VAR moments, big saves, substitutes that made an impact. It had it all, man. look, quick, quick for me. up until about the hydration break, the first quarter, let's call it, because that's what we're doing nowadays. We're playing four quarters. I thought the game was very quiet. You know, England had the ball, nothing major was going on. But when the hydration break ended, shit got real, right? Tell me what you thought. Of that first maybe twenty minutes hydration break and then afterwards.

Marco: Yeah, I want you to remind me the end of this. There's two names that I that I go away from this this game and think like, okay, these guys are the MVP. So remind me at the end. But no, yeah, to your point, up until the hydration break, it was England, England, England, right? It it just looks like it was gonna be one of those games. But as we've we've mentioned in the past throughout this tournament, I think that hydration breaks are are waking a lot of these teams up. that's the biggest W, I in my opinion, for those hydration breaks outside of the commercial stuff that

Project 90 Soccer: well. Yep. Yeah.

Marco: We don't really care about. But yeah, man, as soon as the hydration break was over, here comes Norway and here comes that goal, a banger of a goal. that, in my opinion, I think he was trying to cross the ball, but I got lucky and it just ended on the on the on the backside of of the goal. So yeah, man.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, man, Shelder up thirty-sixth minute, bro. This guy, what was it? I wrote it down right here. It's only his second start this tournament. It's only his eighteenth appearance for Norway. I believe he's twenty two years old. That was a big goal. It was a nice goal. I do think he was trying to cross it. I'm not so sure that he was intending to shoot that, but either way, dude, Pickford got nowhere near it. and yeah, man, that was one to zero. It's kind of a shocker early on, right? For Norway to go up like that, but We were talking about previously, we thought Norway was gonna give them a hard time. And as we get into this, I mean it pretty much that's what we saw, right? Norway really, really brought it to England and gave them quite a hard time. But of course, who shows up for England? Jude Bellingham, right? Another big game, getting two goals. Talk to me a little about a little bit about Bellingham, what you saw from him, what you saw from England after Norway scored that goal.

Marco: Well, before we get into Bellingham and that goal he scored right before the first half, Norway could have gone up two zero.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. Yes, I know what you're gonna bring up here. Let's hear it.

Marco: You know, I don't I I don't want to butcher his name, but my guy, yeah. He got a little selfish. He tried put the cape on and be Superman. But man, you had Erling Holland wide open where you could have just done something with that. And that guy, what does he know how to do? He knows how to score. So I don't know. I think that's a huge missed opportunity there. going up two zero because what do we say about Bellingham and and and Mexico and just in general? He's just a beast, bro. He plays for Real Madrid.

Project 90 Soccer: Sorlov. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Marco: He knows how to score, he knows how to make plays happen. And what happens? We go one one to the first half.

Project 90 Soccer: Bro, he's a big game player, Bellingham. That guy, you can never sleep on him, just like Houghton, just like all the other big name players. But Bellingham right now is carrying England. and yeah, man, you know, for that that goal that Norway scored was the first VAR check that happened. There was a possible foul on Harry Kane. It's the first of many VARs and non VARs that probably should have happened. but the goal was given. up to the forty seventh minute, Bellingham scored. controversy here. Okay. I don't know if you saw it. I saw it at halftime. I did not notice it during the game. apparently the ball that was kicked from the Norway goalkeeper hit the cable that was that was holding the overhead camera on the field. And it came down, fell down to Anderson, who played it into Gordon, who then played it into Bellingham's feet. Who Bellingham did great, right? Took on two guys and slotted it to the far corner. But you know, you see something like that.

Marco: Mm-hmm.

Project 90 Soccer: They didn't catch it, VAR didn't see it. Apparently no one saw it. But you can say England got kind of lucky there, I would say, you know, 'cause in any day or in any other game where that's seen or someone sees that, that's getting called back every time. I mean, wouldn't you think?

Marco: I didn't pay didn't really pay too much attention to that, but in games like this, you gotta get a little bit lucky in order to win these games. but at the end of the day I'm gonna give all the credit to Billingham because he had two guys that are closing out on him and he still made a half in the score.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. He did, man, but I'm I'm gonna have to push back. You gotta be honest. If that was like I'm gonna bring up the I'm gonna bring it up. If that was Argentina, okay, and a ball like that from the other team hit a cable that's holding an overhead camera and it fell down to let's say DePaul and plays it into Mes and Messi scores a goal, the world is gonna be losing their mind right now. That's a big call to miss. Like to me, if you're gonna take some of these calls back as far as they have in this World Cup, call back, even for Egypt, for instance. I mean to me that's something that even if you see it after the fact, I I I don't know how you can just let that go. But nonetheless, they let it go. No one saw it. It's a goal. It was a good goal. Not gonna take that away from Bellingham. Tied the game, but I just I I'd be I'd be extremely pissed. I'm pretty sure Norway's probably pretty pissed about that too, but you know. They were losing it, man. They were losing it. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Marco: Look. yeah, dude, the coach, he was the coach, he was livid. The entire game. But Anto, what that what did I tell you already? I've lost faith in this VAR referee system. Look at that Norway second goal. Anderson sells the shit out of that. He sells it, bro. He's already falling back the moment he's getting touched. There's corner kicks are super physical. Refs are always on top of these guys. This ref wasn't.

Project 90 Soccer: Mm-hmm. Yes, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Marco: But at the end of the day, you go to VAR, it feels like almost like he doesn't really take his time to check it, just like he did with the PK. It's like he stands in front of the screen and immediately turns around. He's like, All whatever, I already have my mind made. But that Anderson foul, I don't know, man. I don't know if he saw it differently, but he he sells the shit out of that.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. Right. He was selling it, man. And let's take it. That was in the fifty-fifth minute, right? I was a corner from OdaGard. A lot of shit going on in there. and Holland, you know, Anderson, you could see him read read his lips, right? He's saying he's pushing me, he's pushing me. So he's already looking for it. And as soon as hands go on him, maybe yeah, there was a little shove, there's a little contact, but you know he sold it, right? So he ends up falling. What happens? The ball scrambles around, they get a goal, they take it away. Still at one one. was that the right call? I guess it's up to interpretation at this point, right? Just like every VAR call seems to be these days. but yeah, nonetheless, it stayed one one. And yeah, man, I thought going into the later stages of the game, there were some good subs, right? England brought on Spence on I believe he was left back, right? And he's been getting a lot of shit this World Cup, especially because of his performance versus Congo, was not doing too well, but he came on

Marco: Mm-hmm.

Project 90 Soccer: later in the game he earned a penalty, which was obviously taken away another VAR call. do you feel like he kinda was looking for that PK? Do you think that it was right that they took it away? Like what what did you think of that? 'Cause I personally I think yeah, he stepped in front of him purposely. I think he was looking for it. So I think that was a good call.

Marco: And So it could go both ways. I initially was like, he was stepping into it because he's fighting for the ball, right? But at the same time, you're inside the box, you put in your putting your leg in front of the defender, which nowadays a lot of the guys like to fall, right? So I'm siding with the ref on this one. He got out in front of this guy, and then he just he he started that contact. And rightfully so, they took the PK away, and Norway gets lucky on this one.

Project 90 Soccer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Marco: But Spence, man, Spence had a good showing when he came in against against Mexico and Tushul did the right right adjustments. I was I was questioning, I was like, why did he take Sokka out? But but but the first 15 minutes when England was dominating, you're like, all right, it makes sense, Madweka's doing his thing. But ultimately, right, at half he makes those changes, Saka comes back in, and you immediately like, yeah, this guy should have started.

Project 90 Soccer: They did. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Medwake was one of those guys that even, you know, you hear in the commentators on T he was just he wasn't doing it today, right? And he Tuchel wasted no time, just took care of it. And I think that was the right move. but Spence, yeah, man. Tushel, I say Tuchel. I don't know. I'm sure if you go to Germany, they say something completely different. I have no idea. I'm gonna say Thomas Tuchel or Tushel. Tushel, Tuchel, same thing. People know what we're talking about. Tuschel. but back on Spence real quick.

Marco: How you say his name? Thomas Tucle. Two shit.

Project 90 Soccer: I think it's dope seeing like I'm gonna say Tuchel. It's dope seeing Tuchel still have faith in him after, you know, a couple of mistakes, maybe a couple of shaky performances, really seeing his potential. And obviously he came in today and you know, he proved that. And you know, he gives him he gives him a good case for maybe starting this next game now. obviously Argentina's about to play. We're gonna see who they're gonna end up playing, but yeah, good performance from him and for Norway, you know, they brought on two players that I thought You know, you see them come in and make the impact they did. You wonder why maybe they didn't start. I'm not too sure why, what the coach had in mind. But Noosa and Bob, right, came in on both wings, two attacking players, very fast, good with the ball. as soon as they came in, it's like their whole attack sort of changed, you know. They had a lot more a lot more of a a threatening attack, I thought. Put John Stones, Gahey under a lot of pressure. I thought they handled Holland well, to be honest. The the

Marco: Mm-hmm.

Project 90 Soccer: the center backs today from England. yeah, what'd you what did you think of Holland? Let's go to Holland real quick. Did you think he was kinda quiet today or put in a lot of work? I thought he put in a lot of work, just didn't get the service necessarily.

Marco: Yeah. Yeah, he put a lot of work. He was trying to body these guys a lot, especially on the set pieces. He was just playing a lot of defense. but to your point, when these guys came in in the second half and started creating these opportunities, they just still couldn't find Holland, man. because man, England was locking them down. And I would have liked more shots outside of the box, right? But then again, maybe just England was taking those shots away and not letting these guys shoot. could it feel they were just trying to trying to find these guys, but they just couldn't couldn't get Holland. But I would have liked

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. Yeah.

Marco: Holland to to stick it out and play the entire game. I don't know. Maybe he he did look a little tired, but I mean he's just one of those guys that you just want to keep in, especially. And I keep saying all these elimination games, arguably your best player outside of Oligard on the squad to where he could just make anything happen. He just needs one one opportunity. Which he had a couple close ones in the first half when England messed up and he was just just shy of capitalizing and and and scoring that goal.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. Yeah. He did. Yeah. Yeah.

Marco: but yeah, man, I would have liked him to stick it out, but shout out to him and and the whole Norway squad. They they had a good tournament.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah, they did, man. And you know, the coach at that point, I think, with Holland, they, you know, they had to score a goal. He's tired, maybe he's feeling some sort of pain or something. I was hearing on TV, maybe he was limping a little bit or something like that. But at the end of the day, man, you need energy up there. You got 15 minutes to save your World Cup. if Holland's not doing it, man, you gotta be you gotta be the manager, like we've said, like previously with like Roberto Martinez wasn't is not very good at this, in my opinion. You gotta make those calls. And whether it's your star player or not. You gotta do what you gotta do to try to give your team the best chance to win. And that's what he did, but obviously didn't make a difference. You know, early and extra time here is the 93rd minute. Bellingham, of course, of all players again. There's a big mistake though from Nealan, the goalkeeper. He goes to catch the ball, kind of bobbles it, rebounds it like we saw the other day. And who's there? Bellingham to clean it up, man. So I thought Bellingham was I'm sure he got man of the match deservedly, right? what'd you think of his performance this game though? And

Marco: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Project 90 Soccer: Overall for England this whole tournament. He's kind of been the guy.

Marco: Solid performance for England and Real Madrid star who didn't have the best of of years with in in Spain, but he's he's he's an elite guy, man. He he had a great performance. you can find him up top, playing in the middle, defense at times. Just seems like he's always working, even when he's off of the ball. either pulling a man onto himself or whatever the case may be. But solid for him. What is that? Five goals now.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he's killing it.

Marco: Or score. Yeah, so and potentially more goals and Ar Argentina or Switzerland, whoever wins that match, they're gonna have their hands full with England because I mean look who didn't score in back to back games, Kane. So when you got Bellingham scoring and your main striker not scoring, that's kinda scary because when now Bellingham's not scoring the next game, who can who has opportunity to score in and it could be the main man, Kane.

Project 90 Soccer: Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah, dude, Bellingham is just absolutely putting the team on his back and attack. Harry Kane today, I mean, he really didn't have any good opportunities to be honest. He was involved in the Lincoln play and everything, but no real big opportunities from your big number nine. You know, it's not to say he didn't do anything that helped England out today 'cause he did, but Bellingham is the is that one guy though at the end of the game or when when he gets subbed out if he comes off like he did today. You can just tell like he's he literally empties the tank. Like that guy leaves everything on the field every time. So if there's one th yeah. yeah.

Marco: These guys were in shape. These guys were in shape. And sorry to cut you off, but these guys were in shape. there was all this talk about them playing Mexico and Mexico City, elevation. These guys proved these guys proved it was no problem. They were in shape. And I was paying attention to the bench with the Norway players, when they were getting sold subbed off. Dude, their sh jerseys were immediately taken off. There was they were shirtless. It looked like they were they were they were just done, tired.

Project 90 Soccer: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Marco: And England, man. England, you mentioned earlier, it ch it came down to energy and who was gonna be less tired and it turned out to be England, man. Those guys are in shape.

Project 90 Soccer: Those guys are dogs, man. And this they were playing in Miami today. You know, it was hot weather, humid weather. yeah, man, props to them and you know, shout out to on Norway, you know, Odegaard. I feel like he's one of the only guys that had throughout the entire game just urgency, right? With the ball, moving the ball around, trying to make plays. Nealand, he had a you know, that mistake that led to to the goal for Bellingham, but he had some big saves as well.

Marco: Yeah.

Project 90 Soccer: And you know, late on in the game, Spence won the ball. He's on fire. He was he took off his little jaw thing he's been wearing, right? And all of a sudden he turns into like a prime Ronaldo or something. And he just fires one in, gets a save, and then Sokka comes in and he gets a double save. So shout out to him, but you know, wasn't enough, in the end. Norway, I think they obviously made history. They've never been in the quarter final. is the furthest they've gone. And, you know, they were they were they were really close, I think, to

Marco: Yeah.

Project 90 Soccer: making the semis, but ultimately England just they were too much today, too much to handle. So props to them, props to Norway, congrats to England. we're gonna go see Argentina now and see what happens there. but yeah man, any anything else you wanna add to this game? What did you have in mind?

Marco: Yeah, so those two MVPs I was talking about is definitely Bellingham, right? Back-to-back games with a brace, just overall killing it. But I'm gonna give the man of the match to Tuchel, Tushel, right? He just knows what adjustments to make. He got a lot of feedback and criticism for leaving out the big names out of the squad and bringing Madweke, Spence, and A Easy or Eze. But his his his his reasoning was like

Project 90 Soccer: Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Marco: I just don't want the big names. I want guys who are gonna be able to play my system and create an impact. And what's going on, Antho? These guys are coming in and they're creating an impact. So yeah, so shout out to him. Man of the match for me. And he's keeping England in this tournament.

Project 90 Soccer: Mm-hmm. they are, yeah. Yeah, man, throwing on Reese James, you know, Dan Byrne at the end there. It seems to he seems to really know his team well, you know, and you can tell that he knows when to change it, how to change it, because every time he makes those subs, man, it's like England's level goes up a little bit. But yeah, man, I'd say that was that lived up to its to its hype, right? We we thought it was gonna be a a tough game. We thought Norway was gonna bring it. I thought they did. So I'm excited now. We got this last quarter final, Argentina versus Switzerland. We gave our predictions last last episode. We both think Argentina is gonna go through. So it's looking like off our prediction, it's gonna be England versus Argentina. But we shall see. And we'll be back with that match recap tomorrow. We're gonna watch that game. We'll give our predictions then for the semifinals. and you know Something to note as well is the rest time is getting a lot shorter between these games. Instead of like in the group stage, they had, you know, up to a week between games at times. Now it's only like three days. So, you know, you gotta look at that. We had we saw France play the day before. They get an extra day of rest for that first semifinal for Spain. So things to just keep in mind, right? But yeah, man, that's it for this episode, guys.

Marco: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Project 90 Soccer: Project Ninety, Project Ninety Soccer dot com. Like, subscribe, share, find our socials, streaming platforms, and we'll see you on the next episode when we break down the semis and this last quarter final.

Marco: I love y'all.

Project 90 Soccer: Peace.