Reece James played 49 minutes on his return to action last night and England manager Thomas Tuchel praised the impact made by Chelsea's captain during the 2-1 win over Norway.
James started and played the full 90 minutes in England's first two matches of this World Cup, the 4-2 victory over Croatia and the goalless draw with Ghana.
But injury ruled the 26-year-old out of the next match with Panama and he was deemed not fit enough to feature during the Three Lions' wins over DR Congo and Mexico, despite occupying a place on the bench.
However, James was brought on in place of Anthony Gordon in the 71st minute of last night's quarter-final with Norway, initially playing as a central midfielder.
The arrival of Morgan Rogers on 89 minutes saw James move to right-back, where he played for the duration of extra-time, as Jude Bellingham's second goal of the match booked England's place in Wednesday's semi-final with Argentina.
Despite only being on the pitch for 49 minutes, James' 12 completed final third passes were only bettered by three other England players - Elliot Anderson (20), Gordon (14) and Marc Guehi (13), with Anderson and Guehi playing the full 120 minutes.
His 46 touches were the ninth highest in the team and he completed 27 of his 30 passes, whilst also delivering two corners.
And when asked about the impact of the substitutes, Tuchel replied: 'Very good. Reece James was excellent. Morgan Rogers was fantastic. [Eberechi Eze] grew into the game. Djed [Spence] grew into the game. Full credit to them, but overall we got lucky today.
'It’s about the score, but it’s also about quality. We will get better. We need to get better. Now is all about the celebration. Take it all in.
'We have three days. We need everything. We need a better performance.'