The fourth in a special series of World Cup 2026-themed collages made for the Guardian by the celebrated satirist Continue reading...

The people of Bryne are proud of local hero’s rise to the top of world football as Norway prepare to face EnglandSurrounded by red hats, No 9 shirts and Erling Haaland action toys at her fabric shop in the small Norwegian town of Bryne, Olinda Haaland – no relation but proud to share the now world-famous name – said everybody in the striker’s home town was a football fan these days.“It’s been pure joy,” she said of her namesake’s rise to the top of world football. “We all love him so much and he’s doing so much for Bryne.” Continue reading...

Head coach says ‘you can’t avoid focusing’ on the forward, who has form against Tuchel’s sides, before the World Cup quarter-finalThe way that Thomas Tuchel remembers it, he was the only choice for the award. He had led Chelsea to Champions League glory in 2020-21 so when the German publication Sport Bild named its coach of the season, it had to give it to him. “Yeah, there was no way out,” the England head coach says, with a smile. “Because if Jürgen Klopp won at the same time the Charity Shield they give it to him …”The line is delivered in trademark style: deadpan, apart from the twinkle in his eye and it is especially funny to imagine Klopp’s reaction when he reads it. What happened next for Tuchel was less of a laughing matter. As a part of the deal, he gave an interview to Sport Bild and during it he joked about how he would have “no problem” bringing Erling Haaland to Chelsea and playing him up front with Romelu Lukaku. Continue reading...

England are favourites to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, Norway boss Stale Solbakken has told BBC Sport.

England need to be wary of a united Ståle Solbakken side who know their strengths before the World Cup quarter-finalEngland fans are going to have to be really patient on Saturday night because this World Cup quarter-final against Norway will feel like a grind and I would not be surprised if the match goes the full distance and we see 120 close-fought minutes. Let me be clear: this will not be an easy game and do not expect it to be played at a fast pace.With a weapon like Erling Haaland, Norway are a dangerous team to face. The crucial thing England have to do, tactically, is try to starve Haaland of service, because if that ball arrives in his proximity and he is given half a chance, you know it is going into the back of the net. He doesn’t need many chances because he’s so clinical. England have to work so hard to deny him service. Continue reading...

Thomas Tuchel seems undecided, while Ståle Solbakken has been structured before the World Cup quarter-finalWhile there will be much focus on Harry Kane and Erling Haaland before England’s match with Norway, they carry no mystery. They will play. They will probably score.Of far greater interest is who Thomas Tuchel and Ståle Solbakken choose to deploy as their wingers. Neither team have completed a game this summer fielding the wide forwards who began it. Continue reading...

The attacking players spent two years together at BVB, forming a friendship on their way to the very topThis World Cup has been about the biggest names from the beginning but as Miami welcomes back its new favourite sporting pleasure on Saturday night, the man in with a shout of the Ballon d’Or probably won’t be the headline. With apologies to Harry Kane, in a football world moving past its two-decades-long domination by the Lionel Messi/Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly, a pair of younger world-class stars will be drawing the majority of the glare as England take on Norway.Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland have met regularly in the Champions League for Real Madrid and Manchester City over the past three years, but this is different. Their first encounter at international level is news in the front pages of the tabloids and gossip mags alike, Hello! running a feature entitled “Inside Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland’s unlikely friendship before fierce Fifa showdown” before Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final in Florida. If Bellingham and Haaland were the game’s next superstar rivalry in the years to come (again, with apologies to Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal) they would define the competition in starkly different parameters to their Argentinian and Portuguese predecessors. Continue reading...

We’re going to need a bigger longboat. Norway are into the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time ever after edging this contest thanks to the man whose smile, and choice in cowboy apparel, has charmed the USA. Erling Haaland delivered again for his country, scoring two goals in the last 10 minutes – his sixth and seventh of the tournament – to send Brazil back home and keep the Viking invasion rolling on.The result is a massive vindication for Ståle Solbakken and the team he has built over the past half decade. Norway set out to dominate Brazil in the first half, without much in the way of success. A double substitution at half-time signalled a shift in approach and on the counterattack Norway proved able to carve open a Brazil side which had their chances in this match but failed to take them. Continue reading...

Ståle Solbakken’s side have surpassed previous golden generation as they prepare to meet team they beat in 1998For a country of 5.6 million people, Norway’s list of competitive achievements is remarkable. Our winter Olympians gobble up medals at a freakish rate, our women’s handball team is all-conquering, we’ve had standout successes in athletics such as the Ingebrigtsen brothers, we’ve had two tournament winners on this season’s PGA tour and, improbably, Norway has also produced the greatest chess player of all time. And while these successes are cherished and celebrated, nothing unites the country quite like football – and no match has stopped the country in its tracks quite like the 2-1 win against Brazil in their final group game of the 1998 World Cup.The sound of commentator Arne Scheie announcing “Vi har scoret i Marseille!” (We have scored in Marseille!) is as firmly etched into our brains as much as anything said by Norwegians poets and politicians in the last 50 years. Scheie was already something of a national treasure, a commentator known for his level-headedness and factual rigor, but when Norway won a late penalty with the score 1-1 he lost the run of himself entirely. He referred to the penalty taker, the then Hertha Berlin midfielder Kjetil Rekdal as “Kjetil Reknett, of Werder Bremen” (Reknett is not a surname in Norwegian or, as far as I am aware, any other language). Continue reading...

No wonder Newcastle United are working overtime to wrap up a deal for Johan Manzambi. The secret, if indeed it ever existed, is well and truly out when it comes to the 20-year-old Freiburg forward who destroyed the Algeria defence to tee up Breel Embolo for Switzerland’s opener in an ominously comfortable victory to reach the last 16. Granit Xhaka, as any good captain would, has tried to keep a lid on soaring expectations, but doing so just got that bit tougher after the Swiss recorded victory in a knockout game at the World Cup for the first time since 1938.“He’s had a great tournament, keep your eyes on him,” came the pre-match message from the stadium announcer accompanying images of Manzambi limbering up on the giant cuboid screen dangling from the roof. The same display detailed Manzambi as sixth in Fifa’s jazzy power rankings for attacking, behind a star-studded cast led by Kylian Mbappé and including Michael Olise, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane. Algeria, however, did not heed the warning. Continue reading...