Norway invite pressure as dream World Cup return continues with quarterfinal match against England

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The World Cup quarterfinalists are almost entirely a who's who of soccer's elite national teams, or at the very least make up a group of teams that are familiar with the tournament's grind. Many of them have made semifinal runs in the last two decades, and three of the last four winners have all made the cut, hoping to add another star atop their crest in a matter of days. And then there's Norway.

The Vikings have not looked out of place amongst the last eight teams standing at the World Cup, so much so that it is almost easy to forget the baggage they carried as they arrived in the U.S. this summer. They may be headlined by one of the game's great goalscorers in Erling Haaland but Norway are not used to deep runs at World Cups – or World Cups at all. They are back at the tournament for the first time since 1998 and returned to major international competition after a group stage exit in the 2000 Euros, turning their relative lack of familiarity with top-level matches into a quarterfinal run that will see them face off against one of the oddsmakers' picks to win in England on Saturday.

"It's not that easy to play football at this top world level," Norway head coach Staale Solbakken said on Friday before addressing the fact that some expected them to be here. "It was nonsense at the time but we said that each match lives its own life and we have addressed this game by game."

Norway will now navigate their unique balance of expectations and reality, Haaland's scintillating form allowing them to shed the label of relative newcomers more quickly than others in their position like Turkiye, who entered the World Cup with aspirations but crashed out in the group stage. Haaland, perhaps the breakout star of the tournament as it pertains to audiences who do not obsess over soccer, has seven goals at the World Cup despite an up-and-down season with Manchester City that preceded his team's trip to the States. He turns his thirst for goals on and off like a faucet, Solbakken said, perhaps as his own way to manage the heights others have in mind for him and his actual abilities.

"To be honest, that hunger is not that big when training," Solbakken said. "When he participates, he is hungry for goals but in a couple of those training sessions, he hasn't been all that hungry. I have to be honest."

He is unquestionably Norway's focal point and belongs amongst a starry contingent that have taken this tournament by storm – his counterpart on England, Harry Kane, has six goals and both are behind Argentina's Lionel Messi and France's Kylian Mbappe with eight each. The key to Haaland's success, Solbakken argued, is that he has teammates who can keep his opponents occupied and free up space for them.

"[Alexander] Sorloth has done a very good job for the team," he said about the Atletico Madrid forward. "He helps also Erling when we have these long crosses and long balls so that Erling doesn't have to enter in all the duels. We have used him for long passes and the combination game and sometimes he hasn't been all that good with the ball but his physical presence for the team has been excellent and he clearly has been able to work on the opponents so that they tire so Alex has done a good job for the team, perhaps in a somewhat different way than before but he also wants to score a goal and it's not too late for that."

Their round of 16 win over Brazil on Sunday only raises the expectations for them, a certain quiet confidence about them as they enter their first-ever World Cup quarterfinal. It has not always been like that, though.

"I think you saw a very nervous team in the first 20 minutes against Iraq where we didn't manage to put two passes together and I think it has something to do with the occasion, that it was 26 years ago, that no one had played in a World Cup before," Solbakken noted about their opener against Iraq, which they went on to win 4-1. "When we came through that game, I think we gradually grew through it and we have a lot of confidence now. Beating three strong opponents in a row makes you feel strong, makes you feel ready for the next challenge. Of course, we know this will be a very, very difficult one but I think the players, deep down, feels they can beat England but we obviously have to be at our very, very best. If we are not at our very, very best, England will go through."

The onus to win on Saturday, he argued, is on the opponents who are hoping to end a 60-year wait for a second World Cup title.

"I think England has more pressure than us but we also put pressure on our performance and when the game has started, I don't think the players think so much about the pressure," he said. "Then it's 11 vs. 11. It's much, much more about the talk before."

Solbakken does not expect to utilize the same strategy against England as Norway did against Brazil, where they dominated possession and had a 2-0 lead before Neymar scored on a late penalty, in part because the hot and humid Miami temperatures will likely hamper either team's ability to do so.

"No, I don't expect the same but I do expect that there will be a little bit in the game to have the ball especially if the weather is like it is now and maybe it's gotten even a little bit hotter because to chase the ball all the time, it's very, very tiring, also when you finally get it so I think both teams need to be able to keep the ball," he noted. "Otherwise, it will be a long, long game."

The pressure, though, is not exactly off Norway – nor does Solbakken want it to be.

"I think every game in this World Cup has been the most important, the greatest for Norwegian football, especially since we went into the knockout rounds," he said. "This is the third most important game and I think that the players are in a relaxed but competitive mood so I think it's a great balance that they have. They're looking forward to the games but, of course, they should also feel the pressure because I don't think you could be at your very best if you don't feel a little bit [of] pressure but I think they have a very good mix, all [are] looking forward to it and feeling the pressure."

Win or lose, Saturday's game already marks a welcome return to the upper echelons of the game for Norway, especially in the era of the expanded tournaments – both the World Cup and the Euros have added participants since the last time the Vikings competed at either tournament. Even if this is the start of a special era of consistency for Norway, it also marks a once-in-a-generation experience for a country that was on the outside looking in at the sport's biggest moments not all that long ago.

"I think the whole of Norway is looking forward to tomorrow and have had some great nights in this World Cup before. It brings the country together. Maybe this will never come back to Norway because maybe we will qualify every time now we have it," Solbakken said. "Now it's 26 years since we were there for the last time so maybe that's why we're peaking at this time."