{"id":16510,"date":"2026-07-11T22:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T22:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16510"},"modified":"2026-07-11T22:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T22:41:14","slug":"its-a-little-bit-more-painful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16510","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit more painful\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5190343\" data-slug-id=\"2806825\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley wants England to beat Norway in the 2026 FIFA World Cup quarter-final tonight (July 11) in Miami before tripping in the last four.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Tuchel&#8217;s 10-man side beat Mexico 3-2 in Mexico City on Monday (July 6). Midfielder Jude Bellingham starred with a first-half brace, while captain Harry Kane netted a second-half penalty before conceding one, which set up a grandstand finale. <\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Vikings are coming off a 2-1 victory over five-time champions Brazil in the Round of 16, with Erling Haaland scoring twice late on to take his team to a first World Cup quarter-final.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>The Three Lions reached their third World Cup semi-final eight years ago in Russia, losing 2-1 to Croatia after extra time. However, in their most recent quarter-final &#8211; at Qatar 2022 &#8211; they lost by the same scoreline to France. Nevertheless, Burley thinks the Three Lions could beat Erling Haaland&#8217;s team, saying on ESPN:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cEngland to go through. Just so that when they get to the semi-finals and get knocked out, it\u2019s a little bit more painful. I want them to be able to feel that World Cup only for it to be dragged away.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"sportskeeda-embed\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/football\/youtube\">\n<div class=\"yt-wrapper\">                    <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Leboeuf thinks Argentina\u2019s luck will run out vs. Switzerland \ud83d\udc40 Preview &amp; predictions | ESPN FC\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JJF-rxceYUw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript>                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The 2018 game against Croatia was the first time in 28 years that the Three Lions reached the World Cup semis, since losing 4-3 on penalties to eventual champions Germany at Italia 1990 following a 1-1 draw after extra time.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>&#8220;Our players aren&#8217;t playing with fear&#8221; &#8211; England boss ahead of 2026 FIFA World Cup clash with Norway<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sk-app-thumbnail\" alt=\"England Press Conference - FIFA World Cup 2026 - Source: Getty\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg\"\/><img class=\"lazy-img\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" data-img=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg?w=190 190w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg?w=720 720w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg 1920w\" alt=\"England Press Conference - FIFA World Cup 2026 - Source: Getty\" data-img-low=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/07\/648cb-17837524134678-1920.jpg?w=640\" bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,&lt;svg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201920%201280%22&gt;&lt;\/svg&gt;\"\/><figcaption>England Press Conference &#8211; FIFA World Cup 2026 &#8211; Source: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>England head coach Thomas Tuchel said that his team won&#8217;t get overawed by the occasion or the opponent when they take on Norway tonight in the 2026 FIFA World Cup quarter-final.<\/p>\n<p>With a place in the last four at stake, the Three Lions will start as the favourites against a Vikings side set to appear in their maiden World Cup quarter-final. Acknowledging that Stale Solbakken&#8217;s side have little to lose, Tuchel said (as per The Guardian):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI understand that it\u2019s a bit of a lighter situation (for Norway) and they can ride this wave. But we\u2019re not thinking in this matter, and I don\u2019t feel our players are playing with fear. I don\u2019t feel the weight of the shirt. And now we go. No matter who is on the other side, no matter if we are favourites or not or if the pressure is on.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>England captain Harry Kane (6) and Norway marksman (7) are in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Golden Boot race, behind leader Kylian Mbappe (8). Kane won the award in his debut World Cup campaign eight years ago.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Bhargav<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley wants England to beat Norway in the 2026 FIFA World&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}