FIFA WC: Haaland scores brace as Norway stun Brazil for maiden QF

New Jersey, July 6 (IANS) Erling Haaland’s brilliant double has secured the finest victory in the Norway football history as they stunned five-time champions Brazil 2-1 here at New Jersey Stadium on Monday (IST) to reach the FIFA World Cup quarterfinals for the first time.

This is the five-time champions’ first round-of-16 elimination since Italy 1990, when they were beaten by arch rivals Argentina.

Norway stand now just two matches from reaching that decider, having downed Brazil in the Round of 16, on the back of Erling Haaland’s sixth and seventh tournament goals. Those goals move him level with Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi as the race for the adidas Golden Boot heats up.

Haaland has now netted 62 times in 54 appearances for Norway. One of his childhood heroes, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, holds the international record for goals by a Scandinavian: 62 in 122 matches. He has also scored in each of his last 14 competitive encounters for Norway, scoring 27 times.

Norway went straight to the attack in New Jersey and looked to have an immediate result when Patrick Berg knocked the ball into the roof of the net after three minutes of play, but the flag was up and the goal was disallowed. A few minutes later, Brazil was awarded a penalty after a VAR check, but a brilliant save by Orjan Håskjold Nyland prevented the Brazilian lead.

In the final minutes, things got better for Norway. First, Andreas Schjelderup passed to Haaland, who headed in the lead before Haaland knocked in his and Norway’s second goal from 16 metres.

A late Neymar penalty, coming in the tenth minute of stoppage time, was nothing more than a consolation as Brazil made their earliest World Cup exit since 1990, while Norway reached the last eight for the first time.

–IANS

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