{"id":2000118396,"date":"2026-07-06T08:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T06:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000118396"},"modified":"2026-07-06T09:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T07:30:10","slug":"haaland-brace-fires-norway-into-world-cup-quarter-finals-as-brazil-crash-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/haaland-brace-fires-norway-into-world-cup-quarter-finals-as-brazil-crash-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Haaland brace fires Norway into World Cup quarter-finals as Brazil crash out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Norwegian captain struck twice in the closing stages to silence the Brazilian supporters, with Neymar&#8217;s stoppage-time penalty proving nothing more than a consolation as Carlo Ancelotti&#8217;s side crashed out in the Round of 16 for the first time since the 1990 World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After a tense opening hour, Brazil had the perfect opportunity to take control when they were awarded a penalty, but Bruno Guimar\u00e3es failed to convert as goalkeeper \u00d8rjan Nyland guessed correctly to keep the scores level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That miss proved costly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Haaland broke the deadlock in the 79th minute, rising above Gabriel to power a commanding header beyond Alisson after a pinpoint delivery into the area. Just 10 minutes later, the Manchester City striker put the result beyond doubt with a sensational low strike from distance that nestled into the bottom corner, sparking wild celebrations among the Norway players and fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Neymar, introduced from the bench, reduced the deficit deep into stoppage time from the penalty spot, but Brazil had left themselves with too much to do as Norway held firm to secure a historic victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The result sends Norway into the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in the nation&#8217;s history, where they will face England, while extending an impressive unbeaten record against Brazil on the world stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Brazil, the defeat marks a bitter end to a tournament in which they entered as one of the favourites. Ancelotti&#8217;s arrival had raised expectations of restoring the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o to the summit of international football, but his first major tournament in charge ends with disappointment and difficult questions about the team&#8217;s direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite flashes of brilliance from Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior, Endrick and the returning Neymar, Brazil struggled to establish control throughout the contest, relying too heavily on individual moments rather than cohesive team play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, Haaland continued to underline his status as one of the tournament&#8217;s standout performers. His two goals took his tally to seven for the competition, drawing him level with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 in the race for the Golden Boot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The double also extended Haaland&#8217;s remarkable scoring streak for Norway, with the prolific striker now finding the net in 14 consecutive competitive international matches. He has scored 62 goals in just 54 appearances for his country, further cementing his place among the world&#8217;s elite forwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Norway, it was a night of celebration and history. For Brazil, it was an early exit that will be remembered as one of the nation&#8217;s most painful World Cup failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1152\" data-id=\"2000118404\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/skysports-brazil-norway_7290638.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000118404\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Haaland battles for the ball with Gabriel.<br><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1152\" data-id=\"2000118403\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/skysports-erling-haaland-goal_7290662.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000118403\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Haaland rises above Gabriel to head in the first goal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1152\" data-id=\"2000118402\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/skysports-erling-haaland-norway_7290682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000118402\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Haaland fires home his second goal for Norway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1152\" data-id=\"2000118398\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/skysports-erling-haaland-world-cup_7290667.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000118398\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Haaland reacts after doubling his goal tally against Brazil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1152\" data-id=\"2000118401\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/skysports-erling-haaland_7290683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000118401\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Haaland led Norway&#8217;s &#8216;Viking Row&#8217; after the game.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1152\" data-id=\"2000118400\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/skysports-neymar-brazil_7290685.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000118400\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Neymar was emotional after what might prove his final World Cup game.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1152\" data-id=\"2000118399\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/skysports-neymar-brazil_7290686.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000118399\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Neymar being consoled by team-mates after loss to Norway.<br><br><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Erling Haaland produced a stunning second-half brace to send Norway into the quarter-finals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a famous 2-1 victory over Brazil, condemning the five-time champions to one of the most disappointing exits in their modern history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000118405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[151],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000118396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-editors-choice","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000118405,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-06-Jul-2026-09-25-AM-7398.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":886,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-06-Jul-2026-09-25-AM-7398.jpg","width":886,"height":600},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-06-Jul-2026-09-25-AM-7398.jpg","width":886,"height":600},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-06-Jul-2026-09-25-AM-7398.jpg","width":886,"height":600},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-06-Jul-2026-09-25-AM-7398.jpg","width":886,"height":600},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-06-Jul-2026-09-25-AM-7398.jpg","width":886,"height":600}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000118396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000118396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000118396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000118407,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000118396\/revisions\/2000118407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000118405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000118396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000118396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000118396"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000118396"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000118396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}