Norway manager Stale Solbakken pointed the finger squarely at FIFA just minutes after his team were sent packing by Thomas Tuchel’s England. Norway had taken the lead of the World Cup quarter-final in Miami in the first half, but the Three Lions struck back when Jude Bellingham levelled on the brink of half-time.
However, controversy struck when it appeared the ball struck the overhead television cables, which were suspending the spidercam, in the build-up to England’s equaliser. FIFA issued a statement saying they had investigated the incident but found no wrongdoing, meaning the goal stood.
Norway were once again left fuming in the second half when a goal of their own got chalked off after Erling Haaland was adjudged to have pushed Elliot Anderson to the ground in the build-up. Bellingham went on to be the match-winner for England, netting in extra time to send the 1966 winners through to the last four.
But speaking after the contest, said Solbakken: “Everyone saw what happened. The ball fell straight down, just in front of the bench … so it did touch the cable. There has been nothing in the chip, what can I say against that? But the ball drops down straight from heaven… So pretty clear that it hit it, it was a strange thing.”
Television replays show a slight deviation from the ball, which would be grounds for the goal being ruled out. Solbakken, despite claiming he saw it on the touchline, remained motionless and didn’t appeal or complain to the referee.
A statement from FIFA read: “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, and therefore no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball.”
Regardless of the controversies, Tuchel wasn’t impressed with England’s performance as a whole. Commenting after the match, he told ITV: “I didn’t speak about suffering, never talked about suffering. We made life very difficult for ourselves.
“The result is fantastic, we are in the last four, but not happy with the performance… in every sense. The commitment is there, but we made life very difficult for ourselves. Lots of technical mistakes. Not repetitive enough. We were lucky today.”