England’s controversial equaliser against Norway in the FIFA World Cup quarter-final has continued to dominate discussion after Norway coach Ståle Solbakken insisted the ball struck an overhead camera cable moments before Jude Bellingham scored.
The incident occurred in first-half stoppage time when goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland’s long clearance appeared to change direction before dropping to Elliot Anderson, who launched the move that ended with Bellingham’s equaliser.
Solbakken said he was convinced the ball had made contact with the cable.
“That was unlucky for us. The ball fell straight down from the sky, so it changed its direction,” he said after the match.
“But we can’t do anything about that. I don’t think we will play the game again. So that’s how it is.”
The Norway coach said referee Clément Turpin told him he had not seen the incident and had received no information that the ball had struck the cable.
“He says that he didn’t see it himself, and that he didn’t get any message that it actually happened, and that’s a good explanation,” Solbakken said.
Referring to FIFA’s explanation, he added: “Since FIFA says there was no touch and there is no signal from the chip in the ball, then he can’t do anything about it.”
However, Solbakken stood by his view.
“But the ball fell straight down just in front of the bench. It did touch it. If there’s been no sound or nothing from the chip, what can I say against that? But the ball drops down straight from heaven.”
Under FIFA’s Laws of the Game, play should be stopped and restarted with a dropped ball if the ball touches an outside agent, including an overhead camera cable.
FIFA later said data from the chip embedded in the match ball showed “no evidence” that the ball had struck the cable, allowing the goal to stand.
Despite his frustration, Solbakken accepted that such moments are part of football.
“We can sit here and complain, and maybe we can rightfully feel that most margins today went against us. But against Brazil, the margins were in our favour. That’s also part of football,” he said.
England went on to defeat Norway 2-1 to book a place in the World Cup semi-finals. (Newswire)