Norway lose to England in the World Cup quarter-finals, but controversy overshadows Jude Bellingham’s equalizer
Norway coach Starre Solbakken did not hesitate to air his frustrations
Norway coach Starre Solbakken claimed the ball appeared to have hit a spider cam before England’s equaliser, but a FIFA statement claimed the technology said otherwise.
Feeling good about the loss, Solbakken said at the post-match press conference: “A lot of people on the bench reacted instantly, 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 just fell straight out of the sky. At the time I saw a different path, so I don’t know what happened. I think it’s obvious that the ball fell, and yeah, it was a weird thing.”
Solbakken complained to referee Clement Turpin during half-time, but the referee was happy to award Jude Bellingham’s equalizing goal.
FIFA later said: “Before England’s goal in the 45+2 minute against Norway, the connected ball sensor did not show a peak in the ‘beat of the ball’ in the air, so there was no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wires and changed its movement.”
England manager Thomas Tuchel added that he has faith in the technology, explaining: “We’ve heard about it, but as we’ve known since the Croatia-Portugal game, there’s a chip in the ball that lets you know if a hair has touched it. They should be able to tell if that happened. I think we just got lucky at a crucial moment.”
Norway captain Martin Odegaard admitted he was “bitter” about the controversial arrangement. “No, I mean, the game’s over and there’s nothing you can do about it right now. It’s just bitter. If we had lost completely and lost 2-0 and were standing here now, it would have been fine. Then we could just throw our hands up and go home and accept that it was at that level. But when it’s this close and certain circumstances go against us, it makes you feel even more bitter, especially when it was a close game.”
“But we can’t focus too much on that. It’s over. We’ve given absolutely great performances throughout this tournament, so we have to try to overcome the disappointment and frustration and be proud of what we’ve done and somehow focus on that.”
Meanwhile, Norway’s goalscorer Andreas Schjelderup felt that Norway’s canceled goal scored by Torbjorn Hegem should not be ruled out as Erling Haaland pushed Elliot Andersson.
England’s equalizing goal becomes a hot topic (Image: Getty)
He said: “I don’t think the 2-1 goal should have been canceled. If it’s a free kick, you can give free kicks many times during a soccer match.
“It was a very soft foul and I actually felt like I was robbed a little bit. It was a crazy moment. It’s fun to score your first World Cup goal on an occasion like that.”
“He admits that the shot was probably completely unintentional. It was a mix of a shot and a cross. He chose to believe that it was his late grandmother who directed that ball into the goal.”
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