Norway have written the biggest chapter in their football history, coming from behind to beat Brazil 2-1 in the Round of 16 and book a first-ever World Cup quarter-final berth.
The breakthrough came late. With the match delicately poised, Erling Haaland struck in the 79th minute to give Norway the lead, then added a second in the 90th to put the result all but out of Brazil’s reach. Neymar Jr. pulled one back deep into stoppage time, converting in the 90+10th minute, but there was no time left for Brazil to find an equalizer.
The win carries an unmistakable echo. Twenty-eight years ago, at France 1998, Norway beat Brazil 2-1 in one of the great group-stage shocks of that tournament. Now, on the sport’s biggest stage yet, history has repeated itself — only this time the stakes are a place in the last eight of the World Cup.
Haaland’s brace takes his tournament tally to 7 goals, keeping him locked at the top of the Golden Boot race. For a Norwegian side that had never previously advanced beyond the group stage at a men’s World Cup, reaching the quarter-finals marks a genuine landmark — and one built on a talisman finally delivering when it mattered most on the global stage.
Brazil, five-time champions, now exit a tournament they entered among the favorites, undone by a Norwegian side playing with nothing to lose and a forward in the form of his life.