​Norway’s remarkable World Cup run came to an end with a 2-1 defeat to England in the quarter-finals, leaving players and fans frustrated by what they saw as an unusual reason to disallow Jude Bellingham’s equaliser. The Norwegians argued that the ball had brushed against one of the spidercam wires during the build-up to Bellingham’s goal in Miami. If it had been ruled that the ball touched a wire, the goal would have been disallowed and play would have resumed with a dropped ball.
“We’ve had enough of this with the wire,” said Sander Berge, the Norway and Fulham midfielder, after the final whistle. “2-1 reflects the margins and we know which way it went.” Captain Martin Ødegaard also questioned some of the refereeing decisions in the late-stage clash. “I didn’t see it myself [the incident], but the margins weren’t in our favour today with a few of the calls. Maybe you need that in games like this.”
Norway’s disappointment was compounded when a second-half header from Torbjørn Hæggern was ruled out following a video assistant referee review that penalised Erling Haaland for a shove on Elliot Anderson as a corner was taken. “It’s an advantage to be as tall and physically imposing as Erling, but you’re punished if you hold a player,” Berge commented.
England had been behind to Andreas Schjelderup’s early strike when the controversial moment arose in first-half stoppage time. Replays indicated that Orjan Nyland’s goal kick travelled close to the spidercam cable above the pitch, the ball then dropping to Elliot Anderson, who fed Anthony Gordon before Bellingham calmly converted.
Several Norwegian players immediately surrounded referee Clement Turpin, arguing that the goal should not stand. Head coach Stale Solbakken spoke to the official at half-time. “He says he didn’t see it himself and that there was no message indicating it had actually happened,” Solbakken explained. “That’s a plausible explanation, and since FIFA says there was no touch and there was no signal from the ball’s chip, he couldn’t intervene. The ball fell straight down, right in front of the bench, so it did touch it. Many on the bench noticed it; I wasn’t one of them, but many were.”
Speaking to BBC Sport, former England striker Wayne Rooney offered a view from his perspective: “The ball seems to deviate and come down quickly. It does seem to bend the ball.”
FIFA later stated there was no evidence the ball had touched a wire. In a post on X, FIFA Media said: “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, and therefore no evidence of an interference.” The discussion around the incident continued to fuel debate, with many feeling that the decision had a decisive bearing on the outcome of a tightly contested fixture.