MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA—Everyone knows that England’s master plan coming into the World Cup quarterfinals on Saturday will revolve around stopping Norway striker Erling Haaland.
As they’d say in Norway, “Lykke til.” Translated: Good luck.
“Has anyone ever stopped Erling Haaland?” England midfielder Morgan Rogers asked, probably only somewhat rhetorically. “I’m unsure they’ve, but we’re going to try. You’re going to should try.”
Stopping Haaland—who has seven goals on this 12 months’s World Cup, one behind France’s Kylian Mbappé and Argentina’s Lionel Messi for essentially the most on the tournament—can be the first subplot of the Norway-England match at Hard Rock Stadium.
Among the many others: Haaland versus England’s Harry Kane in a striker showdown, a Norway team with no pressure versus an England team with enormous expectations, even British Airways versus Norwegian Air in a social media chirping battle. At stake for the teams is a berth in Wednesday’s semifinals, with the winner to face either Argentina or Switzerland.
“I feel it’s Norway vs. England,” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said on Friday, after his team went through its final walk-through before perhaps the largest match within the nation’s soccer history. “But I don’t think it’s a secret that Kane is match-leader No. 1 for England and Haaland is match-leader No. 1 for us.”
Indeed, there are two elite strikers on this game—not only one. England coach Thomas Tuchel raved about Kane on Friday, and rightly so. Kane has six goals to date on this 12 months’s World Cup.
“He’s in the form of his life and in the best peak of his profession,” Tuchel said.
When Haaland—who stands nearly 6-foot-5—gets the ball in his preferred spots, opponents realize that stopping him is nearly out of the query. He’s too big, too strong, too expert and the ball is nearly actually going to seek out its way into the back of the online.
England’s Nico O’Reilly—Haaland’s teammate at Manchester City—has seen it occur again and again. And if there may be an answer to the Haaland problem, O’Reilly might need the closest possible thing to a solution.
His plan: Don’t let the ball get to him.
“Everyone knows what he’s like,” O’Reilly said. “He can rating goals, he’s dangerous within the box, he’s an actual threat. They should get him the ball there first.”
Haaland—who didn’t play for Norway in its loss to France within the group stage—has gotten his goals in bunches on this tournament. Against Iraq, his two goals got here 14 minutes apart. Against Senegal, his two goals were 10 minutes apart. Against Brazil, his two goals were 11 minutes apart.
He was born in England; his father was playing for Leeds at the moment. And Haaland actually sees the importance.
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“It’s a special game, definitely,” Haaland said. “I feel, for me, it’s super special because I play in England and I’m born in England and I’ll be playing against (Manchester City) teammates and all the things.” —AP