Revealed: How Jude Bellingham’s mum helped him avoid costly yellow card that would have ruled Real Madrid star out of England’s World Cup semi-final date with Lionel Messi & Argentina

Bellingham headed into the quarter-final clash walking a disciplinary tightrope, knowing another booking would trigger an automatic suspension for the next round. However, the 23-year-old managed to navigate a heated encounter in the Florida humidity without seeing yellow, and he puts that discipline down to a week of motherly advice.

Speaking after the final whistle, the midfielder explained: "My mum's been telling me all week to watch my language, watch my tackles, watch my face, watch my emotions. So yeah, 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, 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."

Beyond his disciplinary success, Bellingham was predictably the difference-maker on the pitch. His two goals against Norway moved him level with captain Harry Kane on six goals for the tournament, firmly establishing him as a contender for the Golden Ball and putting him just two goals behind top scorers Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi.

The former Birmingham City prodigy admitted that his current form feels like a fairy tale. "Probably a bit beyond, to be honest," Bellingham said when asked if he expected such an impact. "I'm a confident boy, but I think I don't think you go to bed at night dreaming about games like that. It's nice to have an impact and to help my team. But my God, the effort of those lads in there. I'm so proud of how they keep battling, regardless of what situations we find ourselves in."

Despite the victory, manager Thomas Tuchel offered a surprisingly blunt assessment of the performance, labelling the display "sloppy." The German coach expressed frustration at the technical level in Miami, but Bellingham offered a dismissive reply, suggesting the manager might not appreciate the difficulty of the task at hand.

"Maybe he doesn't know what it's like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, [Martin] Odegaard, [Antonio] Nusa, [Alexander] Sorloth," Bellingham noted. "That's not an easy team to play against. So, I think we've tried to create a positive environment. We should continue that going into the final four. I can't speak highly enough of the lads. You're not going to win every game, popping the ball and making a thousand passes. Sometimes you have to win dirty, and we've done that again tonight."

The victory over Norway followed a similar pattern to England's round of 16 triumph over Mexico, but Bellingham believes the mental resilience shown in the quarter-final was on another level. He highlighted the team's ability to manage setbacks in a tournament environment as their most valuable asset.

"The game split into loads of different kind of facets," he concluded. "You know, some of it's technical, tactical, and for me, the biggest one is psychological and how you can manage setbacks, how you can manage adversity. And this team showed yet again that they can do it, and that's a that's a really valuable skill and trait to have going into the stage of the tournament." England now prepare to face Messi’s Argentina in a repeat of one of international football's most iconic rivalries.

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