Norway coach Stale Solbakken convinced ball hit cable before England goal in World Cup quarter-final loss

MIAMI – Norway coach Stale Solbakken said he was convinced that the ball hit a camera cable above the pitch just before Jude Bellingham scored England’s equaliser in the first half of their World Cup quarter-final on July 11.

The incident happened when Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland made a clearance in stoppage time at the end of the half but the ball fell to an England player, starting the move that led to Bellingham’s first goal at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Solbakken, 58, pointed to the cables which support the mobile camera system above the playing surface when complaining to officials at the break but was told that the referee had not seen it and there had been no call from the video assistant referee.

“The ball fell straight down from the sky, so it changed its direction,” he said in his post-match press conference following Norway’s 2-1 defeat after extra time.

“It caused a misunderstanding among our players and it was in a bad moment for us. But we can’t do anything about that. I don’t think we will play the game again. So that’s how it is.”

FIFA released a statement on social media during the match saying there was “no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball”.

“Before England’s goal in minute 45+2 against Norway, the sensor in the ‘Connected Ball’ showed no peak in the ‘heartbeat of the ball’ when in the air,” it read.

Solbakken said he had not seen the ball change direction himself, but his players and team staff had.

“If there’s been no sound or there has been nothing there in the chip, what can I say against that?” he said. “But the ball drops down straight from heaven, everyone said, including Orjan, who is the goalie, including the guy who’s going to receive the ball.

“So I think it’s pretty clear that it did it. It was a strange thing.”

Solbakken said he did not want the incident to become the “main story” about Norway’s run to the quarter-finals of their first World Cup since 1998.

“I will not blame that,” he said. “But everybody on the bench reacted spontaneously because the ball just fell down in front of them.

“So I don’t think there’s any doubt that it touched something. But unfortunately, we have to live with this. So we will talk about the wire until we are all dead.

“I hope we can think about and talk about other things. That’s my sincere hope. I hope that this will not be the story about this team. It shouldn’t be.”

The sensor in the ball is being used for the first time at this World Cup and helped rule out a late Croatia equaliser in their 2-1 defeat by Portugal in the round of 32 by detecting contact with the hair of an attacker.

“I mean, there is a chip in the ball which can tell you if a hair touches it, as we know since the Croatia-Portugal game,” England manager Thomas Tuchel said.

“So they should be able to tell you if it happened. I was not aware of it. I didn’t see it.”

Bellingham’s goal stemming from that incident helped cancel out Andreas Schjelderup’s shock 36th-minute opener for Norway. The Norwegians were the better side in the second period but ran out of steam in extra time, as Bellingham netted the winner on 93 minutes.

Erling Haaland said Norway’s World Cup performances had inspired a new generation despite the disappointment of the defeat as he had failed to score for the first time in 15 competitive games for his country.

The Manchester City striker had scored seven times in his four games at a major international tournament to carry Norway to the quarter-finals in their first World Cup for 28 years.

That run included eliminating Brazil in the last 16 as Haaland struck twice to knock out the five-time winners.

“How we put Norway on the map is maybe one thing that touches me the most,” said Haaland, 25.

“Hopefully now we can establish something when it comes to Euros, World Cups and everything because our generation is amazing and also all this gives motivation to young people back in Norway that it’s possible to play (on) a big stage in the world with a Norwegian shirt.” REUTERS, AFP