Football Extra newsletter: It's tough to reach the top – and that's the point

It hasn't been an easy road to the semi-finals for England but then who has found it easy? Actually, France have managed to cruise through most games so far but generally getting to the business end of World Cups is difficult – and so it should be. To win in 2022, Argentina sneaked past Australia 2-1 in the round of 16, and needed penalties in the quarters and the final itself. All that after infamously losing to Saudi Arabia in their opener, too. Even the French in 2018 only had one win by more than a single goal on the way to the final. It is a grind. World Cups are long and hard, they are about peaking at the right time and sometimes just finding any way to get the result. England can now find ways to get the job done, which is a very handy skill. One of those ways is to have a world class performer or two to get you out of a hole and England have two of those difference-makers in their ranks in Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. Argentina would not have won the last tournament without Lionel Messi, while France rely on the genius of Kylian Mbappe and Michael Olise, with a little help from Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue. These stars are your 'get of jail free' cards and Kane and Bellingham are now at this elite level. England weren't necessarily the better side against Norway or Mexico and probably only just shaded it against DR Congo, but they had Harry and Jude to save the day. Some may complain about single-goal wins in the knockout games but intrinsically Thomas Tuchel is a pragmatist and that might just be enough to get them all the way. A battle of wills So Argentina await England in the semi-finals. They are the arch-pragmatists who happen to have an artist-magician to turn to when all else fails. They have the course and distance advantage as the defending champions from Qatar and an ideology not dissimilar to 1986, when Diego Maradona, surrounded by eager helpers, founded this path to glory for them. This isn't a great team, but they are capable of great things because they will find a way, by hook or by crook. If they cannot do it beautifully with Messi's magic, they will grind it out as a team. And if that doesn't work, no level of gamesmanship is off the table. We watched Messi and co cry after winning against Egypt in the last 16. The tears if they go out to England could lift sea levels around the planet. They seem to care more than anyone else about winning this competition, almost to an unhealthy extent. Well, unhealthy unless you actually do win it. This is what England need to match, that desperation, that will, that need to be victorious. I wasn't sure England had that street-fighter level of intensity until the game against Mexico. Only after that battling performance did it seem they had the fight to equal their talent. That more than anything else is why it is Argentina who should fear England as much as the other way around. Another big tick for the refs Argentina squeezed through with the help of a refereeing decision that saw the Swiss reduced to ten men. Striker Breel Embolo was red carded after a rare use of the new 'mistaken identity' rule , but let's not forget what really happened. Embolo clearly threw his leg out deliberately to get a foul and get an opponent unfairly booked. There is a word for this in sport that is not used often enough, it is called "cheating". Now others may have done similar in the tournament already and you may well cry, "we want consistency", especially if you are Swiss. I have to admit that my levels of sympathy are at homeopathic levels here. A player tried to cheat, got caught and in doing so lost his team the chance of getting to the semi final of the World Cup. I will further own up to the fact that I punched the air as if my team had scored a goal when the official produced the red card. Last week on this page, I wrote in favour of the refereeing at this World Cup. I applauded them for not giving fouls to players who fell over and "made the most" of every little nudge. I ended with this line: "…just add yellow cards for obvious simulation that can be proven by the VARs, then I would say the officials would finally be grabbing the sport back from an ugly and unfair direction." Are the referees reading my page? This was justice not unfairness. Let's see if anyone else has the bravery – or more correctly stupidity – to try that again in this tournament! The cross-border culture clash Here is a knotty topic for me: why do so many Scots want anyone to win the World Cup, as long as it is not England? There are long and serious-minded meditations about a small country dominated and indeed ruled over by their overbearing neighbours throughout much of history. I am not sure I am buying that as the real reason, but it will be for some. As co-habitants on this island, familiarity could breed contempt, but it is more than that too. Obviously, there would be a certain amount of crowing about winning if they manage but then wouldn't any country celebrate being world champions? It's not an awful a thing to do. The thing that really seems to wind up many Scots are cultural differences. Players and ex-players mercilessly selling themselves can leave my compatriots seething. "Whatever happened to the old English virtues of humility, of gentlemanly, team spirited sportsmanship?" they complain. To many Scots, Jude Bellingham's goal celebration screams, "Look at me, look how great I am," while forgetting to notice that his team-mates actually helped a little in getting him the goal. There was a picture of Jude on the front page of the BBC Sport website with him pointing with both hands at the name on the back of his own shir. It's the sporting equivalent of speaking about yourself in the third person. The Scots generally celebrate, on the rare occasions we actually get the chance to, with a little more self-deprecation. John McGinn almost immediately turned to hug his team-mates after scoring against Haiti. Look at Gordon Strachan after scoring against West Germany in 1986. Fun and joy shared with colleagues, not the indulgent celebration of the self. This is what many, if not all, Scots think. I must underline I absolutely do not see things in the same light. I backed England to win this tournament from the start so hopefully am fair-minded, but I can see where both nations differ having lived in both cultures. England are a fine team. The Scots worry that they know this only too well and will spend a lot of time reminding us of that fact if they triumph. Bridging the gap In some ways it is heartening to see the best four teams left to battle it out at this World Cup. This doesn't always happen and the only sadness is that once again there are no Asian or African sides – and no big underdogs, like South Korea and Turkey in 2002 or Morocco in 2022 – left in the semi finals. Europe and South America are dominant again. Is it closer for Asia than it was quarter of a century ago? Probably not. What about Africa? Their best teams need a player who is truly world class such as Messi or Maradona or Pele. The closest they have produced is Mo Salah and it still didn't happen for Egypt. Morocco can claim to be knocking on the door, but they need a true superstar to help them take that last step – or should that be giant leap?