*Ancelloti’s Men Miss Early Penalty
By Paul MacInnnes, at the New York New Jersey Stadium
Norway are into the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time after edging the contest against multiple winners Brazil, thanks to the man whose smile, and choice in cowboy apparel, has charmed the USA.
Erling Haaland delivered again for his country, scoring two goals in the last 11 minutes – his sixth and seventh of the tournament – to send Brazil back home and keep the Viking invasion rolling on.
The result is a massive vindication for coach Ståle Solbakken and the team he has built over the past half decade.
Norway set out to dominate Brazil in the first half, without much in the way of success. A double substitution at half-time signalled a shift in approach and on the counterattack, Norway proved able to carve open a Brazil side which had their chances in this match but failed to take them.
Such a prospect was never likely with Haaland, who scored two goals from his four shots in the match.
The opening goal came with 11 minutes to go, a cross from the substitute winger Andreas Schjelderup met with a towering leap above Gabriel Magalhães and a dagger header past Allison.
As the game passed into added time, Haaland struck again, given time and space on the edge of the Brazil box to convert a Schjelderup pass low across goal.
Norway’s talisman celebrated largely by just standing and smiling. His colleagues and the streak of Norwegian supporters behind the goal did the rest.
This had felt like an intriguing match, with Norway coming into the game off the back of their first World Cup knockout win and Brazil very much still a work in progress.
Ancelloti’s Tweaks
Carlo Ancelotti made his latest tweak by introducing Gabriel Martinelli into his starting XI, the scorer of the winning goal against Japan replacing the injured Lucas Paquetá.
His was a direct replacement too, with the Arsenal winger taking up a position in the centre of midfield, albeit with a licence to roam.
It was an unusual sight and while spectators were still trying to grasp the Brazilian formation, Norway got straight out of the blocks and had the ball in the net within three minutes.
Norway Early Goal Ruled Offside
It was a move triggered by a quick pass from the halfway line, into the feet of Martin Ødegaard, who spun to create space in the pocket 15 yards outside the box. On the outside the returning Julian Ryerson was bombing down the wing and Ødegaard delayed, and delayed, then delivered a well-weighted ball that took Ryerson past Douglas Santos.
The full-back squared the ball and there were four options cueing up to hit it, with Patrick Berg ultimately powering the ball into the roof of the net.
The flag immediately went up, and Ryerson turned out to have gone too early, with the goal ruled out as offside.
Penalty For Brazil
Another overturn worked in Brazil’s favour 10 minutes later. A quick break found Bruno Guimarães on the ball in the Norwegian half. He played in Martinelli who squared into space on the edge of the box. Matheus Cunha ran on to the pass and Kristoffer Ajer ran out to block it. The Brentford man got no touch on the ball, though, and slid right through Cunha to bring him to the ground.
The American referee Ismail Elfath said no penalty. The video assistant referee (VAR) felt otherwise and Elfath reversed his decision. Rayan and Cunha immediately went to protect the penalty spot.
While the expectation in the ground was that this would be a moment for Vinícius Júnior, Guimarães stepped up instead.
Newcastle’s captain usually cedes spot-kicks to Anthony Gordon at club level and here he decided to employ a stuttering run-up before his kick.
The idea was to trigger goalie Ørjan Nyland to dive early, which he did, but to the correct side, his left, where he turned Guimarães’ effort wide to raucous cheers.
Possession, Norway; Counter-attacking, Brazil
Those two incidents came quickly and could have sent the game skittering in a number of different directions. But with neither counting, the game settled into a first-half pattern of Norwegian possession and Brazilian counterattacking.
Both sides could have scored again, with Vinícius and Martinelli drawing saves from Nyland, while Ødegaard capitalised on some penalty area chaos in added time to force a decent stop from Alisson. Haaland, meanwhile, was largely a peripheral figure.
Half Time
At half-time Solbakken rebooted his side, withdrawing both wingers and bringing on Oscar Bobb and Schjelderup.
It didn’t change things and, in fact, led Brazil to get on the ball more than they had in the opening period.
Ten minutes into the half, Ancelotti made his change too, replacing Cunha with Endrick and the teenager was in on goal within seconds of arrival. Superb vision from Vinícius had sent him clear of the Norwegian defence but Endrick’s second touch was heavy and, with space closing around him, he could only flick a left-footed shot wide of the post.
One consequence of Brazil growing in possession was that Norway were able to play on the counter more often and it was a tactic that worked for them.
Alisson was forced to turn away two decent crosses from the Norway left, and almost put one into the path of Haaland.
Five minutes later sheer brute force from the Norwegian number nine held off both Brazilian centre-halves and Schjelderup should have scored when played into the box.
Neymar Comes On
There were more changes: Neymar on for Brazil, and Guimarães – who had a strong game, penalty aside, was withdrawn with 11 minutes to go.
The crowd, which were almost entirely behind Brazil, were hoping for a cameo from the man they once thought was a generation-defining talent.
Neymar did in fact get on the scoresheet, scoring a penalty with a stuttering run-up in the 10th minute of seven minutes added time. It was too late, however. Another star very much in his prime had already decided proceedings.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Haaland after scoring one of his two goals in the match.
