Norway's hopes of causing another major upset were left hanging by a thread – literally – as they crashed out of the World Cup on a contentious note against England. The drama unfolded in first-half stoppage time, with Jude Bellingham's equaliser sparking a furious debate over whether the ball had been aided by a spidercam wire suspended above the pitch.
Replays showed Orjan Nyland's goal kick sailing perilously close to the cable, and as fate would have it, the ball fell straight into the path of Elliot Anderson. The Scotland midfielder laid it off to Anthony Gordon, who teed up Bellingham for a composed finish that sent England into the interval on level terms.
Stale Solbakken was adamant that the ball had made contact with the wire, telling referee Clement Turpin at half-time: "The ball fell straight down, right in front of the bench, so it did touch it." But FIFA's verdict via X (formerly Twitter) was swift and decisive – no evidence to suggest any interference from the overhead cable.
The 'heartbeat of the ball' technology, which has been making waves throughout the tournament, proved a crucial factor. Initially introduced to detect even the slightest contact with the ball, it previously played a starring role in Portugal's 2-1 win over Croatia, disallowing an equaliser for offside contact.
Thomas Tuchel had acknowledged the technology's capabilities, saying: "There is a chip in the ball who can tell you if a hair touches it as we know since the Croatia v Portugal game." But Norway's woes weren't confined to one controversy. Torbjorn Heggem's second-half header was chopped down following a VAR review of Erling Haaland's shove on Elliot Anderson during a corner kick.
Sander Berge summed up the frustration: "It's an advantage to be as big and physically strong as Erling, but you get punished if you hold a player." Despite their grievances, England marched on to the semi-finals, while Norway's valiant World Cup campaign came to a close in Miami.