WORLD CUP – Erling Haaland struck his fifth World Cup goal deep into stoppage time, sealing a 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast and setting up a last-16 showdown with Brazil.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Amad Diallo inspired a spirited Ivory Coast fightback, but the unstoppable Haaland had the final word, sending Norway through to face Brazil in a knockout clash.
Haaland scored for a 13th consecutive international game as he tucked in from Patrick Berg’s cutback in the 86th minute, sealing Norway’s progress to a last-16 tie against Brazil, with Amad Diallo having previously dragged Ivory Coast level.
Stale Solbakken made 10 changes to his team for Norway’s last game, against France, and all of those players returned to the fold at Dallas Stadium. Chief among those was Haaland, who saw a header blocked inside three minutes.
Haaland had another attempt in the 37th minute of a low-key first half, which was sparked into life when Antonio Nusa brilliantly cut in on his right foot, squared up his marker and curled a finish in off the post, becoming Norway’s youngest major-tournament goalscorer in the process.
Norway’s star striker might have made it 2-0 soon after, but Ibrahim Sangare lunged across to make a vital intervention as Haaland attempted to get on the end of a knockdown in the box.
Odegaard claimed the assist for Nusa’s strike, making him the first player to set up a goal in three successive World Cup games since Dirk Kuyt in 2010, and the playmaker created a huge chance midway through the second half, when his inswinging corner found its way through to Torbjorn Heggem.
Amad, only just on as a substitute, was well-placed to clear Heggem’s attempt off the line, though, and the Manchester United winger then lit it up at the other end.
Having played a one-two with Nicolas Pepe, Amad dribbled his way through a crowd of defenders, jinking one way and then the other before lashing home.
Yet it was a Norway substitute who made a telling impact 12 minutes later, as Oscar Bobb played a defence-splitting pass into Berg, who rolled it across to tee up Haaland for a routine finish.
There was almost another twist when Amad sent a stoppage-time free-kick flying towards the top-left corner, but Orjan Nyland was equal to it.
Haaland’s hot streak rolls on
Haaland was hardly in the game for long swathes of it. In the first half, he had only eight touches and completed just one pass. But he does not need many touches to make an impact, and when his big chance came, he took it coolly.
Haaland had four shots, meaning he fell just short of becoming the first player since Karim Benzema in 2014 to have 5+ shots in each of his first three World Cup outings. The Manchester City star has plundered 25 goals across his last 13 games for his country.
Not that he, nor his team-mates, will care, as Norway have won a World Cup knockout stage game for the very first time. They are the first European nation to progress in their maiden knockout tie at the finals since Ukraine in 2006.
Ivory Coast’s debut run into the World Cup knockouts ended in a valiant defeat. They had 14 shots to Norway’s nine, and won 14 corners, but they could not take advantage of those set-pieces.
Yan Diomande failed to dazzle as he did in the group stage, but Amad, who was unlucky not to start, was hugely unfortunate to be on the losing team.
Amad became only the third player to score twice as a substitute at a single World Cup for an African nation, after Roger Milla for Cameroon in 1990 (four) and Pape Gueye for Senegal this year (two).
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