There were two controversial moments that may have cost Norway a place in the last four (Image: Getty)
England booked their place in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals after coming from behind to beat Norway 2-1 after extra time in the sweltering heat of Miami. Norway looked on course for one of the biggest wins in the country’s football history after Andreas Schjelderup fired them into a 36th-minute lead. Jude Bellingham levelled in first-half stoppage time before Torbjørn Heggem thought he had restored Norway’s advantage, only for VAR to rule out the goal.
The match was eventually settled in extra time when Bellingham struck again in the 93rd minute, sending England into the last four and ending Norway’s remarkable World Cup run. But by Sunday morning, much of the debate in Norway was not about the result itself. Instead, the country’s biggest broadcasters and newspapers were asking whether two controversial moments had cost Norway a place in the last four.
England booked their place in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals after coming from behind (Image: Getty)
NRK, Norway’s state broadcaster and the country’s equivalent of the BBC, led much of its coverage with the decision to disallow Heggem’s second-half goal after Erling Haaland was judged to have fouled Elliot Anderson in the penalty area.
NRK football expert Kristoffer Løkberg said: “It is a scandal that Norway have been denied that 2-1 goal. It is unbelievably poor refereeing. Elliot Anderson threw himself backwards without any provocation. It’s closer to simulation than a foul by Haaland.”
Football expert Lars Tjærnås was equally critical, writing on X: “What a total farce VAR is for football.”
Mr Løkberg was not the only television pundit left frustrated. On TV2, one of Norway’s biggest commercial broadcasters, expert commentator Simen Stamsø-Møller questioned why the goal had been ruled out.
He said: “Yes, there is a push, but that happens everywhere inside the penalty area. There’s a push here, there’s a push there, everywhere. It’s because he throws himself. No, stop being ridiculous.”
Norwegian pundits did not hold back in their criticism of the referee (Image: Getty)
He added: “There was a push and you see that at every single corner. It’s only given because the outcome is a goal.”
The controversy did not end there. TV2 also devoted significant coverage to England’s equaliser after Norway claimed the ball struck the overhead camera cable moments before Jude Bellingham scored.
Norway manager Ståle Solbakken said after the match: “It’s not the main story here, and I’m not blaming that, but the whole bench reacted immediately when the ball dropped in front of them. Ørjan [Nyland] reacted immediately. I don’t think there’s any doubt it hit something, but unfortunately, we’ll have to live with that for the rest of our lives.”
With regards to the incident, TV2 football expert Jesper Mathisen believed the laws of the game were clear.
He said: “The goal should have been disallowed because the referee should have stopped play and restarted with a dropped ball after Nyland’s kick.”
FIFA later said it had checked the data from the chip inside the official match ball and found no evidence that it had made contact with the camera cable.
Norwegian newspaper Nettavisen, one of the country’s biggest online news outlets, also spent plenty of time talking about both incidents.
Mr Løkberg told the newspaper: “If that ball hit the camera or the cable, this is a scandal. It should have been a dropped ball, not 1-1. I have no words. I’ve never witnessed anything like it before. If this proves decisive, it will go down as one of the biggest World Cup scandals of all time.”
His fellow NRK expert Carl-Erik Torp added: “If it turns out the ball hit the cable, then from a Norwegian point of view this would be one of the biggest refereeing scandals of all time.”
Despite the anger over the two decisions, Mr Løkberg finished by praising Norway’s performance against one of the tournament favourites.
He said: “It has been unbelievably intense. What drama, and what a heroic Norwegian team, who were the better side for large parts of the game. In the game of fine margins, unfortunately, the margins went against us. But there is a Norwegian team down there that can be proud in defeat.”