Alfinge Haaland was at the stadium to watch Norway lose to England (Image: ITV)
Erling Haaland’s father Alf Inge had a bitter reaction after watching from the stands as England knocked Norway out of the World Cup. The 53-year-old former soccer player was inside Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium to watch his son’s team lose 2-1 to Jude Bellingham. In the 36th minute, Andreas Schjölderup’s cross found the back of the net, giving England a turnaround and giving Norway a 1-0 lead. Bellingham’s equalizing goal sparked controversy with claims that the ball hit a camera cable before midfielder Haaland Jr., a former teammate at Borussia Dortmund, equalized for the Three Lions.
FIFA later denied this in a statement, saying: “In the 45+2 minutes before England’s goal in the match against Norway, the connected ball sensor did not show any peak of the ‘ball pulse’ in the air, so there was no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wires and changed its movement.” Norway then had a goal from Torbjorn Heggem also canceled out, almost making it 2-1 for the Scandinavian national team.
Erling Haaland fouled Elliott Anderson during a corner kick and the goal was ruled out after a VAR check. Although the goal was canceled as Martin Odegaard had not yet taken a corner kick, Norway was allowed to recover the set-piece.
And to a post by Fabrizio Romano pointing out that Bellingham scored six goals in the 2026 World Cup, Haaland Snr replied: “Well done Bellingham and the referee.”
The former Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Manchester City player has been inundated with replies from England supporters mocking him. The senior Haaland was briefly shown on television accusing Jed Spence of diving after the Three Lions were awarded a penalty in extra time.
Referee Clement Turpin overturned his initial decision after checking the VAR monitor. Cameras then showed Alf Inge, who was sitting in the stands, making a diving gesture with both hands and then making a vulgar two-finger gesture at the England fans.
Regarding Heggem’s disallowed goal, Norway captain Martin Odegaard told NRK: “This little goal I saw looked very soft, but I haven’t seen it yet so I won’t say much.” Meanwhile, teammate Sander Berge added: “That should be the goal every day. You never know which way it will go.”
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Thorbjorn Hegem’s goal was canceled due to a foul on Erling Haaland (Image: Getty)
Thorbjorn Heggem’s finish was ruled out due to choke after VAR check (Image: Getty)
England legend Wayne Rooney told the BBC of his post-match reaction: “It wasn’t a foul. It wasn’t a foul. Thankfully I think we were lucky there. Elliott Anderson’s arm was around Haaland and he’s allowed to use force to pull him away. I don’t think he definitely kicked it away. He just brushed it away. To me it’s not a foul.”
Norway coach Starre Solbakken said: “This is the highest level we can reach and after a slightly difficult 20 minutes we played a heroic game on all fronts and the players, I can’t praise them enough.
“After the first water break, we felt really good and were playing great football against a great team. It didn’t go perfectly, but we just have to keep going.”
Captain Odegaard added: “It’s disappointing and heavy, especially the way we lost. I feel like we have a lot of good things to do, we’re so close and I think it could have easily gone our way, so that would make it even more sad.”
“We have to be proud of what we’ve done, today in the whole championship. We’re here for the first time in a long time. We’ve made a mark in our own way and the whole world is talking about us.”
“It’s a great achievement to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup. We can be very proud. And we can do more and improve even more.”
