The Indy : Right up to date : The World Cup Semi Finals
Monday, 13th Jul 2026 21:22 by Olle Söderholm

Olle Söderholm brings us right up to the semi finals matches of the 2026 World Cup here on the Indy

France vs Morocco was the only game I found slightly disappointing. The Moroccans appeared to give up during the second half, in a game that never really left Les Bleus’ hands. Mbappé scored his 8th goal of the tournament, and the unrest in London after the game was almost more noteworthy than the game itself.

Spain vs Belgium upped the drama. Despite the Spanish controlling possession and constantly pressuring the Belgians, the Red Devils managed to hold on at 1-1 until the 88th minute, when the super-sub to end all super-subs, Mikel Merino, scored once again to send Spain through. The goal came after Pau Cubarsí’s shot was spilled by Senne Lammens, the rebound falling right in front of Merino. Lammens had only been on the pitch 17 minutes when he made that mistake, having come on to replace Courtois after the latter picked up an injury. A cruel moment for Lammens and Belgium, who showed a lot of fight in this game.

It seems the drama increased with every quarter-final that was played. England vs Norway certainly delivered. The English desperately managed to find a win, holding on against the Norwegian Vikings. It was a very physical and intense game, with Jude Bellingham being the standout player for me. He once again scored twice — once to equalise after Schjelderup’s rocket, and again to give England the win in extra time. I think Bellingham has genuinely been one of the best players at this World Cup, in contention with Mbappé and Messi for the Golden Ball.

But it wasn’t Bellingham (below) stealing all the headlines after the game — it was the referee and Alexander Sørloth. Norway had a 2-1 goal disallowed after a VAR review concluded that Haaland had pushed Elliott Anderson before a corner, which Torbjørn Heggem headed home. I think this decision was pretty soft; as Haaland himself put it, “If that’s a free kick, I should have one all the time”. But at the same time, he makes it difficult for the referee when he clearly uses two arms to push Anderson.

But the biggest controversy came earlier, when Jude Bellingham scored his equaliser. In the build-up to the goal, the ball flew very high and apparently hit a camera cable before coming down. A clip has been circulating in which viewers claim to see the ball hitting the cable, something Norwegian players reacted to on the pitch at the time. According to the rules, if the ball hits something external like that, play should be stopped. However, apparently the ball’s sensors, which detect touches, didn’t detect any touch from the cable. These are the same sensors that ruled out Croatia’s goal against Portugal after the ball touched Igor Matanovic’s hair.

But perhaps things could have been different — perhaps Norway could have been 2-0 up. Perhaps Sørloth could have passed. In the 44th minute, Sørloth and Erling Haaland were through on goal, 2-on-1 against John Stones, with Jordan Pickford in goal. For some reason Sørloth decided not to play the ball to Haaland, instead taking a bad touch inside and shooting, only to be blocked. After the game, he said he wanted to pass to Erling but couldn’t find the angle — surely something that will haunt him for the rest of his career.

But there are players who will carry more mental scars than him. In the last quarter-final, Switzerland had Argentina against the ropes. They had equalised after Argentina took the lead and had real momentum, but just 5 minutes after their goal, Breel Embolo made a theatrically obvious dive. The referee, João Pinheiro, initially booked Paredes for the foul, but VAR instructed him to review the incident. The officials then applied the “mistaken identity” rule, which is directly quoted from the IFAB Laws of the Game as follows:

“Mistaken identity: when the referee penalises the wrong team for an offence that results in a red or yellow card being shown to the wrong player.”

Since Pinheiro had shown Paredes a yellow card, he was able to switch it so that Embolo was penalised instead. And with Embolo already having a yellow card after a late tackle in the first half, he was forced to leave the field. There has been a lot of discussion about this rule and its original intent, many believing the rule was intended to ensure the referee books the correct player on the same team, not to penalise diving. The rule was, however, also used against Paraguay’s Miguel Almirón, when he dived against the US in the group stage.

Either way, it’s clear to me that FIFA has failed to establish clear rules that hold up under scrutiny. Many of these controversies stem from poor wording, unclear rules and outright contradictions.
The game went on; the red card became Argentina’s ticket back into it. It took until the 112th minute, deep into extra time, for Julián Álvarez to score a screamer that sealed the game, with a late Martínez goal making it 3-1.

That means the semi-finals are set:

France vs Spain, tomorrow at 8 PM, and England vs Argentina, Wednesday at 8 PM.

All four are ranked in the top four of the FIFA World Rankings. France vs Spain promises to be a fantastic game. I have Les Bleus as favourites, but if Spain’s best players — like Pedri and especially Lamine Yamal — can find their form, it could become a tight game. The Spaniards should be able to play through France’s underwhelming first press with relative ease, so this will be a harder challenge than the French have faced so far. Even so, it feels close to impossible to stop that French front four.

England vs Argentina is an historically rich fixture. They have previously faced each other 5 times at World Cups, with England winning on 3 occasions, drawing once, and Argentina famously winning in 1986 after Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” and “Goal of the Century”. Both sides haven’t looked their best so far, and I can see this going either way. Bellingham is in the form of his life, but on the other side stands a 39-year-old Leo Messi with nothing to lose. The last time Argentina defeated England, it was Maradona who led La Scaloneta, this time it would have to be Messi.

Ever so poetic.

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