There was no sign of foul or offside in the opening minutes, with Elliott Anderson collecting the loose ball before slotting a pass wide to Anthony Gordon. He evaded his marker well and singled out Bellingham just outside the penalty area, and the Real Madrid star showed some sublime touches before slotting the ball past Orjan Nyland.
The Norwegian goalkeeper led the protest over the goal, claiming that Andersson’s goal kick from the air hit a spider cam. A spider cam is a device that is suspended from several thick cables and is used to provide aerial footage of plays for television viewers.
A fresh slow-motion clip of the moment was then released, courtesy of Canadian sports network TSN. The footage zooms in on the moment the ball appears to make contact with the spider cam. Although the image is a little blurry, it does look like there was contact. Also, the subsequent trajectory of the ball further suggests that something changed course.
The decision was controversial and caused considerable discontent within the Norwegian camp, with Andreas Schjelderup, who gave Norway the lead, calling the decision scandalous. “You can see that the ball changed direction and landed 10 meters in front of me. I haven’t looked at the picture again, but if the ball hit, it would be a scandal,” he told TV2.
FIFA’s statement on the controversy said: “Before England’s goal in the 45+2 minute against Norway, the connected ball’s sensor did not show any peak in the ‘ball pulse’ while in the air, so there was no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wires and changed its movement.”
Staal Solbakken also gave his own reaction to the controversy, with the Norwegian national team manager accepting FIFA’s data, but also stating that he believed there had been contact with the spider cam. He said, “Many on the bench reacted immediately, but I wasn’t one of them. I can’t say anything about that. Because, FIFA, if you don’t hear the sound in the chip, what can you say about it?”
“The ball fell straight out of the sky. I didn’t know what happened because I saw the other way at the time. I think it’s obvious that the ball fell and yeah, it was a strange thing.” The Three Lions will play Argentina for a place in the World Cup final, while Spain will face France in the other semi-final.
