‘Norway were robbed’ Erling Haaland’s father hits ...

Alf-Inge Haaland added that he believed Thomas Tuchel’s men were “saved by the referee” in their 2-1 victory in Miami.

Norway had a second-half goal disallowed after Manchester City striker Haaland was spotted by the VAR pushing over Elliot Anderson. England otherwise kept him quiet, but they were outplayed by Norway for large spells before Jude Bellingham snatched victory in extra time.

Haaland’s father, who also played for City and Norway, was in the stands watching. Afterwards, he said he felt Norway were hard done by.

“Saved by the referee,” he wrote on social media. “Hope [England] win the WC [World Cup] now. But feel we got robbed today.”

He wrote in another response: “Well done Bellingham and referee.”

Clément Turpin, the referee, had first faced scrutiny in the build-up to Bellingham’s equaliser when Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland’s goal-kick appeared to touch a cable above the Hard Rock Stadium, leading the ball to drop out of the air to Anderson, who started the move England scored from.

Stale Solbakken, Norway’s head coach, confronted the French referee on the pitch at half-time. But Fifa later claimed its “snicko” technology provided “no evidence the ball touched the overhead wire”.

“He said that he didn’t see it himself and that he didn’t get any message that it actually happened,” Solbakken said. “Since Fifa says that there was no touch, he can’t do anything about it. But the ball fell down straight in front of the bench, so it did. Everyone saw what happened. I think it’s pretty clear that it did. it was a strange thing.”

Haaland’s father was also pictured mimicking a “dive” gesture and stuck two fingers up after Djed Spence fell in the area. A penalty was awarded before it was overturned following a VAR intervention.

Solbakken defended his decision to substitute Haaland at half-time of extra time and said: “It was not tough to take Erling Haaland off, I should have done it 10 minutes earlier as he was finished.”

Bellingham could be England’s greatest, says Lineker

Elsewhere, praise was heaped on Bellingham for hauling England through. On his The Rest is Football Netflix show, Gary Lineker said: “I would go as far as to say I think there’s a chance that he could well be, or end up being, England’s greatest ever footballer.”

“We’ve had some really great players. Some of them have not necessarily done it for their country, others have.

“Go back to people like Bobby Charlton, obviously, I would say would have to be up there.

“You would put Harry Kane in that bracket and there are other players as well, but I think at this age [23], to be doing what he’s doing and to grabbing England by the scruff and getting them over the line, that is a superstar.”

Wednesday’s semi-final will be sixth World Cup meeting between England and Argentina but the first since 2002 and the first time they have come up against Lionel Messi.

Messi is joint top-scorer with Kylian Mbappé with eight goals for the current tournament, but former England striker Wayne Rooney believes if Thomas Tuchel gets his tactics right he could be a weak point.

“He can be a weakness defensively for Argentina,” he told BBC Sport. “He doesn’t run back, but he has big moments, a bit like with Jude Bellingham.

“The thing with Messi is his decision-making – he comes to life in moments of the game and he makes the right decision. Marking Lionel Messi is about concentration and communication. Communicating with your team-mates about picking up positions you might not usually pick up.”

Mother knows best

Bellingham revealed his mother’s advice helped him walk his suspension tightrope in England’s World Cup quarter-final win over Norway.

Bellingham would have missed the Argentina semi-final had he picked up a yellow card against Norway but, with wise words from mother Denise ringing in his ear, he avoided a booking and reached the amnesty point safely.

“My mum’s been telling me all week to watch my language, watch my tackles, watch my face, watch my emotions,” Bellingham said. “So, I think she drilled it into me all week about being careful of that yellow card.

“And to be honest, when you play the right way, and credit to the referee [Turpin], he was class, he still let you communicate in a respectful way.

“A lot of referees don’t let you do that. So I think when I get the balance right, and there’s a referee who’s willing to listen, it makes it a lot easier.

“And in the end, it was just a really well-competed game of football, and luckily I got through it.”