Erling Haaland’s father was left fuming after Norway’s exit from the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Norway fell to a 2-1 extra-time defeat to England in the quarter-finals, and Alf-Inge Haaland feels that the referee ‘robbed’ them in the match.
Torbjorn Heggem thought he had put England 2-1 up, but VAR intervened and the referee ruled the goal out after Haaland pushed Elliot Anderson during the corner kick. Anderson fell down, but it was before the ball was curled into the box.
England also got their equaliser in controversial circumstances as Orjan Nyland’s goal-kick hit the overhead wires above the pitch. But FIFA’s ball sensor showed no contact.
‘Saved by the referee’
Responding to a post on X, Haaland senior wrote, “Saved by the referee. Hope you win the WC now. But feel we got robbed today.”
Norway took the lead through Andreas Schjelderup in the 36th minute, as his cross curled into the top right corner. Bellingham equalised in first-half stoppage time, courtesy of the overhead camera wires. Bellingham added his second in extra time after Nyland spilt a shot from Rogers into the Real Madrid star’s path.
Speaking after the match, Norway head coach Stale Solbakken said, “The ball fell straight down from the sky, so it changed its direction.”
“It caused a misunderstanding among our players, and it was in a bad moment for us. But we can’t do anything about that. I don’t think we will play the game again. So that’s how it is.”
Meanwhile, FIFA defended the referee’s decision. In a statement, FIFA said, “Before England’s goal in minute 45 2 against Norway, the sensor in the ‘Connected Ball’ showed no peak in the ‘heartbeat of the ball’ when in the air.”
Responding to FIFA’s explanation, Solbakken said, “If there’s been no sound or there has been nothing there in the chip, what can I say against that?”
“But the ball drops down straight from heaven. Everyone said, including Orjan, who is the goalie, and the guy who’s going to receive the ball. So I think it’s pretty clear that it did it. It was a strange thing.”
But he refused to blame the incident. “I will not blame that,” he said.
“But everybody on the bench reacted spontaneously because the ball just fell down in front of them.
“So I don’t think there’s any doubt that it touched something. But unfortunately, we have to live with this. So we will talk about the wire until we are all dead. I hope we can think about and talk about other things. That’s my sincere hope. I hope that this will not be the story about this team. It shouldn’t be,” he added.
