‘The ball fell down from the sky and changed direction’ – Norway boss stunned by England goal after 2-1 quarter-final defeat
Norway are stunned by VAR’s failure to intervene and chalk off Jude Bellingham’s equalising goal for England.
National team boss Stale Solbakken has stated for the record his view of England‘s controversial strike, right on the brink of half-time.
Bellingham‘s strike came just two passes after the ball, from a goal kick, seemingly struck the television cable overhead and “changed direction”, according to Norway‘s manager.
‘The ball fell down from the sky and changed direction’ – Norway boss fumes at England goal, after quarter-final defeat
Norway experienced a largely dominant first half in the 2026 World Cup, and should have expanded their lead to 2-0, if not for an Alexander Sorloth-shaped disaster in a two-on-one counter.
Shortly after the Norwegian striker failed to pass to a wide open Erling Haaland, the Three Lions pounced to life when a golden opportunity quite literally “fell down from sky” and levelled affairs.
Solbakken has described his view of the incident, and expressed his feelings for VAR’s failure to intervene and chalk off the England goal.
The Norway boss said: “Yeah it probably will [count as an assist for the spidercam]. It was unlucky for us. The ball fell straight down from the sky and changed directions.
“We can sit here and complain and maybe we can feel rightly that the small details did not go in our favor. Against Brazil, they did. That’s how it is in football.
“But maybe we need those small details to go in our favor to beat England, Brazil and other teams in the top 5 in the world.
“We can’t do anything about that. I don’t think we’ll play the game again so that’s how it is,” he said.
Solbakken expressed high praise for his Norway side, stating that this team can “go toe-to-toe” with the world’s best.
The 58-year-old also clarified that the referee told him he did not see anything for Bellingham’s goal, before expressing doubt over the functionality of the in-ball movement chip.
“I cannot say anything on that because there is no movement in the chip. What can I say against that? But the ball falls straight down in front of Haaland,” said Solbakken.
“I wonder also what happened, but I think it is pretty clear that it did [hit the wire]. It was a strange thing.”
The Norway manager then explained the motivation behind his bizarre late-stage substitution of goal machine Haaland.
“It was not a tough decision because he was finished and maybe I should have taken him out 10 minutes before. He obviously had a tremendous World Cup,” said the 58-year-old.
“I think he also got a dead leg in the second half so that combined with the fatigue, but he did everything he could.
“He scored seven goals in five games for us and had a fantastic World Cup for us,” said Solbakken, before praising all his squad for their “phenomenal” performances across the tournament.
England boss Thomas Tuchel conceded that his side “just got lucky” in crucial moments during the quarter-final bout, criticising his side for their poor performance.
Three Lions star Bellingham did not take kindly to his manager’s words, but Tuchel clarified that he is “fully in love” with his team.
