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Everyone knows England’s master plan heading into Saturday’s World Cup quarter-finals will be to stop Norwegian striker Erling Haaland.
As we would say in Norway, “Lykke til”. Translated: Good luck.
“Has anyone ever stopped Erling Haaland?” asked England midfielder Morgan Rogers, probably only somewhat rhetorically. “I’m not sure they did, but we’ll try. You’ll have to try.”
Stopping Haaland – who has seven goals at this year’s World Cup, one behind France’s Kylian Mbappé and Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the most at the tournament – will be the main subplot of the Norway-England match at Hard Rock Stadium.
Among the others: Haaland against England’s Harry Kane in a showdown between the strikers, a Norwegian team with no pressure against an English team with huge expectations, even British Airways against Norwegian Air in a social media tweet battle. At stake for the teams is a place in Wednesday’s semi-finals, the winner of which will face Argentina or Switzerland.
“I think it’s Norway versus England,” Norwegian coach Ståle Solbakken said on Friday, after his team made their final visit before perhaps the biggest match in the history of national football. “But I don’t think it’s any secret that Kane is the No. 1 match leader for England and Haaland is the No. 1 match leader for us.”
When Haaland – who stands nearly 6-foot-5 – gets the ball in his favorite spot, opponents realize that stopping him is almost out of the question. He’s too big, too strong, too skilled, and the ball will almost certainly find its way into the back of the net.
England’s Nico O’Reilly – Haaland’s Manchester City teammate – has seen this happen time and time again. And if there is a solution to the Haaland problem, O’Reilly might have the closest possible solution to an answer.
His plan: not to let the ball reach him.
“We all know what he looks like,” O’Reilly said. “He can score goals, he’s dangerous in the box, he’s a real threat. They have to get him the ball first.”
Haaland – who did not play for Norway in their group stage loss to France – has scored several goals in this tournament. Against Iraq, his two goals were scored 14 minutes apart. Against Senegal, his two goals were 10 minutes apart. Against Brazil, his two goals were 11 minutes apart.
He was born in England; his father was playing for Leeds at this time. And Haaland certainly sees the importance of that.
“It’s definitely a special match,” Haaland said. “I think for me it’s super special because I’m playing in England and I was born in England and I’ll be playing against (Manchester City) teammates and everything.”
It’s not just Haaland in this friends-turned-enemies place. There are nine Norwegian players playing for English clubs, so there will obviously be some familiarity between the teams on Saturday.
“Everything is on the line,” O’Reilly said. “Everything is at stake.”
The teams entered Saturday’s match in spectacular fashion, with Norway holding off perennial powerhouse and five-time world champion Brazil 2-1, and England traveling to Mexico City and stunning previously undefeated – and scoreless – co-hosts Mexico 3-2.
Both sides recognized that they needed a little more time to come back from the height of those victories.
“We discussed that we had to leave the drama and emotions of the Mexico match behind us,” England striker Bukayo Saka said. “Now we have to focus on Norway, which will be another difficult challenge, a different challenge, and we are fully focused.”
Fully focused, perhaps. At full load, this will not be the case.
There are health concerns around midfielder Declan Rice and defender Marc Guehi, and England will be without defender Jarell Quansah as he begins serving his two-match suspension which was handed down after receiving a red card against Mexico in the round of 16.
“I think there are clear favorites. England is one of them,” Haaland said. “So I think you should all put as little pressure as possible on the English guys.”
Haaland said this with a smile, and that was the case throughout the tournament. He enjoys it, on and off the field.
He’s a walking, talking meme, someone who gets a lot of attention for everything he does and says. When England great Wayne Rooney said he would row (a nod to Norwegian rowing tradition) the River Mersey if Norway beat Brazil, those words reached Haaland – who, according to British media, reminded Rooney that he had some rowing to do.
All eyes will be on Haaland. England will have to find a way to resolve it or their World Cup run will end in Miami.
“I think it’s the biggest challenge,” Rogers said, “but it’s a challenge that this group is passionate about.”
Associated Press reporting.
