Norway’s players and staff were furious after Jude Bellingham’s opening goal for England at Miami Stadium resulted in him being allowed to stand by the match officials.
Referee Clement Turpin receives some backlash for England’s controversial goal (Image: (Hannah Peters – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images))
Norway refused to accept the defeat against England quietly and the manager, number two and players scored Jude Bellingham’s opening goal. Assistant manager Kent Bergersen has given his latest opinion, insisting that VAR should have been considered for the controversial equalizer.
Norwegian players and staff were furious, believing Orjan Nyland’s goal kick appeared to have touched a cable above the Miami stadium. The ball then fell into the path of Elliott Anderson, who exchanged passes with Anthony Gordon before Bellingham scored, canceling out Andreas Schjelderup’s opener. Nyland rushed to referee Clement Turpin to protest, but it appears that a VAR check was not carried out.
FIFA later issued a statement saying that nothing was recorded on the chip inside the ball. “In the 45+2 minutes before England’s goal in the match against Norway, the connected ball sensor showed no peak of the ‘ball pulse’ in the air, so there was no evidence that the ball had touched the overhead wires and changed its movement,” the statement said.
But Bergersen believes Turpin should have been sent to a pitchside monitor by VAR to confirm the goal. “When Orjan kicked the ball, it hit the camera wire, so the ball was much shorter than it should have been. The referee should have seen that,” he told TV 2.
Former Norway midfielder Ketil Rekdal said: “It’s just crazy that something like that could happen. There’s no way the referees would have noticed it. If they had, Norway would have had to storm the field to make them aware.”
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And after the match, Norwegian coach Starre Solbakken claimed that the overhead wire deserved an assist on the goal. “Well, that’s probably what happened. It was unlucky for us. The ball came straight out of the sky and changed direction,” he said.
“There was a misunderstanding between the players and it couldn’t have come at a worse time for us, but there’s nothing we can do about it. I don’t think we’ll play again, so that’s the way it is.”
“I can’t say anything about it because it’s about FIFA. If there’s no sound or there’s no (reading) on the chip, what can you say about it?” he added.
“But the ball is falling straight from the sky, everyone said, including goalkeeper Orjan and the player receiving the ball.
“At that time, I looked in the other direction, so I also wonder what happened. I think it’s obvious that it happened, and it was strange.”
Meanwhile, Norwegian national forward Alexander Sorloth claimed, “You can see the power Orjan put into the ball. I saw the ball go far, so I put myself even higher. So I have to go even higher, but suddenly the ball drops and disappears. So it must have fallen.”
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