World Cup 2026 · Quarter-final · Match 99
Erling Haaland has scored in each of his last fourteen official matches for Norway — twenty-seven goals across that run — and in all five of his outings at this World Cup. England come into the tie having used six different right-backs in five matches, the least settled position of any quarter-finalist. And the goal that began Brazil's elimination came from exactly there: Schjelderup came on at half-time, dragged his markers inside, and teed up the cross Haaland headed home. These sides have met twelve times since 1937, never at a major tournament. The first time will be a quarter-final, with a semi-final in Atlanta waiting for the winner.
Odds
Rough guide only; lines move, and there's a market for today and tomorrow only.
- 1X2 (90 minutes): England favourites, around 1.9; Norway well behind, in the 3.5–4.0 band; the draw the third option.
- To qualify: England heavy favourites to advance; Norway around 2.6–2.8 as the second option.
- Goals & both teams to score: Over 2.5 leaning slightly to the over; both teams to score (Yes) around 1.7.
Norway are playing the biggest match in their history. They had reached only four World Cups before this one, none since 1998, and had never gone beyond the last sixteen. Now they are in the quarter-finals, having knocked out Brazil on a Haaland double at 79 and 90 minutes. Solbakken's team score goals and concede them in equal measure: twelve for, nine against, and per Opta they have both scored and conceded in all five of their matches at the tournament. The 4-1 defeat to France came with ten changes to the side, so it says little about the first-choice team. What does matter is the state of the camp. Solbakken has admitted that a cough and fatigue have spread through the squad; Strand Larsen is among those affected, according to the Norwegian press, and Holmgren Pedersen already missed the Brazil game through illness — Ryerson would keep the right-back spot if he isn't fit.
England won their group and then laboured through both knockout ties. They came from behind against DR Congo on two late Kane goals, and beat Mexico 3-2 while playing more than half an hour with ten men after Quansah's red card — on 33.2% possession, their lowest at a World Cup since records began. The absences complicate the picture. Henderson is out of the tournament with a fractured radius. Quansah is suspended, with an appeal pending. Reece James is a serious doubt by most accounts; he hasn't trained since the Ghana match, and some reports already rule him out. And four starters — Rice, Guehi, O'Reilly, Bellingham — sit one booking away from missing a possible semi-final.
Recent form
| Team | Form | Goals (last 5) | Clean sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | W W L W W | 12 / 9 | 0 of 5 |
| England | W W W D W | 11 / 5 | 2 of 5 |
Norway have scored and conceded in all five of their tournament matches.
The key battle: Schjelderup's channel against a right-back no one has claimed
The question of the match is a plain one: can England's makeshift right side shut down the Schjelderup–Haaland route that knocked Brazil out? Norway defend in a mid-to-low block and break quickly toward a single destination — get the ball to Haaland, with Schjelderup drifting inside to pull markers away and open the space for the cross. It's a repeatable pattern, and it points straight at the one area where Tuchel hasn't found an answer: six occupants in five matches, James in doubt, Spence short of rhythm, and Konsa's projected move to full-back in a back four still just that, a projection. Guehi looks the likeliest man to pick up Haaland, though the job will be shared.
At the other end, Kane dropping in to link play and Bellingham arriving from deep — the first England midfielder to score four goals at a single World Cup — attack a defence that hasn't kept a clean sheet all tournament. If England can delay the first clean cross to Haaland, their attacking depth should tell. If that cross arrives early, the match is played on the script Norway already rehearsed against Brazil.
Head to head
- Twelve meetings since 1937: England 7, Norway 2, 3 draws.
- Last meeting: friendly at Wembley, 2014, England 1-0 (Rooney).
- Saturday will be the first meeting between them at a major tournament.
Norway have never won a World Cup match against European opposition in six attempts (D2 L4); they lost both of their previous World Cup knockout ties against Europeans, on each occasion to Italy (1938 and 1998).
The pick
| 1X2 | England |
|---|---|
| Goals | Over 2.5 |
| Both teams to score | Yes |
| Reference odds | England around 1.9 (rough guide, no book) |
The pick is England with both teams to score. The reasoning: Norway have conceded in all five of their matches and now face one of the deepest attacks in the tournament, while Haaland's run — fourteen games in a row scoring for his country — makes an England clean sheet hard to picture. Over 2.5 goals follows the same logic: England's two knockout wins finished 2-1 and 3-2, and all five of Norway's tournament matches have closed with three goals or more.
The risk is the right-back. If Norway strike first down that channel, England are forced into a third comeback in as many rounds, and history isn't with them at this stage: they've come through only three of their ten previous quarter-finals, conceding two or more goals in seven of them. The illness in the Norway camp may weaken them, but it also makes their lineup unpredictable — a late change on the wing or in attack shifts the very matchup this pick rests on.
There's no direct Guatemalan thread to this tie, but there's a resonance that doesn't have to be forced. Norway, a nation of five and a half million, are into their first quarter-final after decades on the outside. "Some say we've changed Norway forever," Solbakken offered after knocking Brazil out. For a country still waiting on its own first World Cup — Guatemala has never qualified — that story needs no translation. Tigo Sports carries it here on Saturday at 3:00 p.m., a weekend afternoon after lunch, a good slot to watch the whole thing.
