꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂

Digital Content Creator, Sports and Football Enthusiastic.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Tuchel fires back against criticism;

England head coach Thomas Tuchel has just had a strangely heated exchange with ITV interviewer Gabriel Clarke, which has just been shown on Fox in the United States. Tuchel appeared frustrated when Clarke asked whether England’s problems were down to their ‘mentality’.

Tuchel, who had just bemoaned England’s ‘sloppy tactical mistakes’, pointed to the pitch and replied:

💬 “Mentality? This is pure mentality now. How can you talk about mentality now? This is pure mentality. It’s not a mentality problem. You can bottle it up and sell it. Why are you talking about mentality? (The problem is) the quality of our game. It’s about quality. We need to play better.”

Clarke then spoke to England’s match-winner, Jude Bellingham, and quickly relayed Tuchel’s criticism of the performance. Bellingham responded:

💬 “Whatever. It was difficult out there. It was a tough shift.”

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Better from the Swiss
65’ Argentina 1-0 Switzerland

A better effort there from Granit Xhaka on goal. Low and in the corner, forcing Emiliano Martinez to get down and save well, collecting the ball at the second attempt.

I think we’re finally in a good spell for Switzerland. Borderline promising.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

GOAL: WE ARE ALL SQUARE IN KC!

68’ Argentina 1-1 Switzerland

A VERY MUCH BETTER SPELL!

SWITZERLAND EQUALISE THROUGH NDOYE!

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Better from the Swiss
65’ Argentina 1-0 Switzerland

A better effort there from Granit Xhaka on goal. Low and in the corner, forcing Emiliano Martinez to get down and save well, collecting the ball at the second attempt.

I think we’re finally in a good spell for Switzerland. Borderline promising.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

69’ Argentina 1-1 Switzerland

After a brilliant one-two with Rodriguez down the left, Ndoye then gets on goal and slots home with his right foot.

GAME. ON.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Parades into the book as tempers fray
70’ Argentina 1-1 Switzerland

Paredes has a chop at Embolo and Argentina have their first booking, too right too.

It’s chippy out there. Freuler really unhappy with something said.

And now the referee is being sent to the screen. What’s this for?

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

71’ Argentina 1-1 Switzerland

Oh no. It’s Embolo. It looks like he has dived and Paredes didn’t make contact.

And Embolo has already been booked …

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Argentina 1-1 Switzerland
Dan Ndoye has scored a deserved equaliser for Switzerland against Argentina in their 2026 World Cup quarter-final.

The reigning world champions took an early lead when Alexis Mac Allister headed home Lionel Messi’s corner.

But Switzerland cranked up the pressure in the second half and finally drew level when the excellent Ndoye finished from a tight angle.

The winners will face England in the semi-finals after their 2-1 win over Norway.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Costly dithering but more chances will come;

Switzerland just lacking some quality in the final third, summed up by that poor touch from Zakaria after they found a route through the Argentina midfield nicely with a fizzed pass through the lines.

They’ve dithered with the ball at their feet a little in the box — Ndoye has been particularly guilty of that — but there are still chances for them in this game.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Argentina starting to look leggy;

Argentina have started losing the ball too easily coming out from the back — a sign, in part, of fatigue creeping into legs that have played non-stop minutes all tournament.

It’s not just the control that’s slipping; the team’s gone long and disjointed in attack, and correspondingly exposed once it loses the ball at the other end.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Previously;

Better from the Swiss:

65’ Argentina 1-0 Switzerland

A better effort there from Granit Xhaka on goal. Low and in the corner, forcing Emiliano Martinez to get down and save well, collecting the ball at the second attempt.

I think we’re finally in a good spell for Switzerland. Borderline promising.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

69’ Argentina 1-1 Switzerland

After a brilliant one-two with Rodriguez down the left, Ndoye then gets on goal and slots home with his right foot.

GAME. ON.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

GOAL: WE ARE ALL SQUARE IN KC!
68’ Argentina 1-1 Switzerland

A VERY MUCH BETTER SPELL!

SWITZERLAND EQUALISE THROUGH NDOYE!

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Why was England’s first goal controversial?

Norway felt that the Skycam attached to cables that hover above the pitch may have played an unwitting part in Jude Bellingham’s opening goal just before half-time.

Norway believed the ball had struck one of the cables that support the camera when it was cleared upfield. A few passes later, Bellingham scored.

FIFA said that according to its ball-chip data it did not strike the wire. Video images appeared to show the ball changing trajectory. For this tournament a 500Hz inertial measurement unit (IMU) motion sensor has been embedded to track data and enhance the VAR system.

The ‘Connected Ball Technology’ (CBT), as Adidas calls it, delivers data 500 times a second which means that the sensor helps make the precise moment a ball was touched clear. Its primary purpose is to help with offside calls but it can also detect whether a player has touched the ball.

Norway coach Solbakken and goalkeeper Nyland were both certain the ball had struck the wire, pointing up at the sky after the goal. Solbakken also pressed his case to the officials as England celebrated and again at half-time.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Haaland: The little moments make the difference;

Erling Haaland, who didn't have nearly as much influence on the game as he would have liked to have had, was asked about the decisions that didn't go the way of him and his team-mates in an interview with broadcaster TV 2.

💬 “It’s the little moments that make the difference in the World Cup. Against Brazil, we managed to tip the balance in our favour. Today, we had a 50/50 call go against us. That makes it difficult. England are a good side.”

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

What happened to Haaland?

Erling Haaland had the fewest touches of anyone on the pitch, his goalkeeper Nyland had over double. But this is nothing new for the 25-year-old, a player who often lingers on the periphery of games before making his decisive move.

To withdraw Haaland halfway through extra time was a brave decision from head coach Stale Solbakken. There were suggestions of a slight injury, receiving a massage on the touchline shortly after coming off, but Norway undoubtedly lost a little bit of threat without his intimidating presence in the middle.

He mustered two shots on goal, failing to generate enough power on a header, before flicking a second headed effort wide from a second-half corner. He dropped deep where he could, but was generally crowded out in the centre and wasn’t given much to chase in behind.

Ultimately, the risk didn’t pay off — Haaland’s replacement Jorgen Strand Larsen had just four touches and found himself similarly isolated at the top of the team in his 15 minutes on the pitch. Having scored over half of their goals on their way to a maiden World Cup quarter-final, this was a sad way for a historic tournament to end.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Pickford continues praise for Bellingham;

Jordan Pickford, in the mixed zone, was full of praise for England's matchwinner Jude Bellingham.

💬 “His mentality is what puts him on that level. He has been top level, and long may it continue.”

On the victory itself, and England's progression, Pickford added: “We've got that togetherness, that team spirit, that commitment. We drive ourselves. We never say never.

“The managers wants us to improvement going forward — and yeah, we definitely want that ourselves — but when the going gets tough, we're resilient and we dig in as a team.”

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

England did what few can;

Erling Haaland's biggest contribution to that game was his two-handed shove on new Manchester City team-mate Elliot Anderson, which led to his team-mates goal being disallowed.

The credit for that being his only memorable moment must go to two other players that played with him at City, John Stones and Marc Guehi.

England have just become the first team to stop Haaland from scoring in a competitive international match since Austria back in 2024.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Nothing but praise for Bellingham from Haaland!!

Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland shared an embrace before and after the match, having spent a couple of seasons together at Borussia Dortmund. The Norway striker was asked about his former team-mate after the game.

💬 “Jude is a good friend. We had two good years together, so we keep in touch and everything. He's such a good guy. I've said it so many times, we had so much fun together. I'm not surprised that he scores two goals today and performs the way he does.

“The only thing is that I think he gets a bit too much of a critic because he doesn’t score enough goals or whatever it is. I think he doesn’t really deserve it because I think he's one of the best in the world, and he's a midfielder, he still scores goals, he still manages to dribble past every single player on the on the field.

“I think he's unbelievable and England is lucky and Madrid is lucky because everybody will want him in the team.”

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Should Norway’s opener have been disallowed?

Harry Kane’s half-hearted appeal for a free kick shortly before Norway opened the scoring was surely more out of hope than expectation.

Some VARs have got involved unnecessarily at this World Cup, most notably in the now infamous match between Egypt and Argentina, but not here.

The official in the VAR role for the game at Hard Rock Stadium, Jerome Brisard, was the same who controversially disallowed Egypt’s goal against Argentina but he was unmoved by Kane’s claim.

Any contact was minimal and well below the threshold being applied on the field by French referee Clement Turpin, too.

[꧁༺CHIZZYGOLD༻꧂ @chizzygold67]

Beckham: 'So proud of the team'

Watching England win a World Cup quarter-final in his adopted home must have been seriously special for David Beckham.

He was shown with his family a few times on the broadcast and has posted on Instagram.

💬 “What a moment in Miami. I'm so proud of the team tonight reaching the semi-final of the World Cup and to celebrate with my family was so special. Thank you England for giving our country these moments.”