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Everyone knows that England’s master plan heading into the World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday will be to stop Norwegian striker Erling Haaland.
As they would say in Norway, “Lykke til.” Translated: Good luck.
“Has anyone ever arrested Erling Haaland?” England midfielder Morgan Rogers asked, probably somewhat rhetorically. “I’m not sure they did it, but let’s try. You’ll have to try.”
Stopping Haaland, who has seven goals in this year’s World Cup, one behind France’s Kylian Mbappe and Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the most in the tournament, will be the main subplot of the Norway-England match at Hard Rock Stadium.
Among others: Haaland against England’s Harry Kane in a striker showdown, a pressure-free Norwegian team against an England team with huge expectations, even British Airways against Norwegian Air in a social media battle. At stake for the teams is a place in Wednesday’s semi-finals, with the winner facing either Argentina or Switzerland.
“I think it’s Norway against England,” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said on Friday, after his team went through its final walk-through before perhaps the most important match in the nation’s soccer history. “But I don’t think it’s a secret that Kane is the number one match leader for England and Haaland is the number one match leader for us.”
When Haaland, who is nearly 6-foot-5, receives the ball in his preferred spot, opponents realize that stopping him is nearly impossible. He’s too big, too strong, too skilled and the ball will almost certainly find its way to the back of the net.
Englishman Nico O’Reilly, Haaland’s teammate at Manchester City, has seen it happen time and time again. And if there is a solution to Haaland’s problem, O’Reilly might have as close to an answer as possible.
His plan: not to let the ball reach him.
“We all know what it’s like,” O’Reilly said. “He can score goals, he’s dangerous inside the box, he’s a real threat. They need to get the ball to him there first.”
Haaland, who did not play for Norway in the group stage defeat to France, has scored many goals in this tournament. Against Iraq, their two goals came 14 minutes apart. Against Senegal, his two goals were separated by 10 minutes. Against Brazil, his two goals were separated by 11 minutes.
He was born in England; His father was playing for Leeds at the time. And Haaland certainly sees the meaning.
“It’s a special match, definitely,” Haaland said. “I think for me it’s super special because I play in England, I was born in England and I’ll play against (Manchester City) teammates and all that.”
It’s not just Haaland who finds himself in that friends-turned-enemies situation. There are nine players from Norway playing for clubs in England, so there will obviously be familiarity between both teams on Saturday.
“Everything is on the line,” O’Reilly said. “Everything is at stake.”
The teams came into Saturday’s match in dramatic fashion, with Norway holding off perennial power and five-time World Cup champions Brazil 2-1 and England arriving in Mexico City and stunning co-hosts Mexico, previously undefeated and scoreless, 3-2.
Both sides have acknowledged that recovering from the peak of such victories took a little longer.
“We discussed that we need to put the drama and emotions of the Mexico game 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 totally focused.”
Totally focused, perhaps. Fully charged, that will not be the case.
There are health concerns surrounding midfielder Declan Rice and defender Marc Guehi, and England will be without defender Jarell Quansah as he begins to serve his two-match suspension imposed after he was sent off with a red card against Mexico in the round of 16.
“I think there are some clear favorites. England is one of them,” Haaland said. “So I think you all should put all the pressure on the English boys.”
Haaland said it with a smile, and it has been like that throughout the tournament. He’s enjoying this, on and off the field.
He is a walking and talking meme, someone who attracts a lot of attention for everything he does and says. When England great Wayne Rooney said he would row (a nod to Norway’s rowing tradition) down the Mersey River if Norway beat Brazil, those words reached Haaland, who, according to British media reports, reminded Rooney that he has some rowing to do.
All eyes will be on Haaland. England will have to find a way to fix it, or else their World Cup career will end in Miami.
“I think it’s the biggest challenge,” Rogers said, “but it’s a challenge that this group is excited about.”
Associated Press information.
