Haaland Sends Brazil Out as Norway Reach a First World Cup Quarterfinal

Norway produced the upset of the World Cup so far, beating Brazil 2-1 in the round of 16 to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in the country's history, and sending the record five-time champions home earlier than they have gone in decades.

Haaland decides it

The game was tight until Erling Haaland took over late on. The striker headed Norway in front around the 79th minute, meeting a cross from Andreas Schjelderup, and soon added a second with a powerful strike from distance, ESPN reported. The two goals took his tally at his first World Cup to seven, putting him among the tournament's leading scorers.

Brazil pulled one back through a Neymar penalty in stoppage time, as Al Jazeera's account of the match recorded, but it came too late to force extra time. Earlier, Brazil had also missed a penalty of their own, one of several chances they failed to convert on a frustrating night.

A historic low for Brazil

For Brazil, the defeat is a serious blow. The team, coached by Carlo Ancelotti, had arrived among the favorites and had reached at least the quarterfinals at every World Cup since 1994. Going out in the last 16 is their earliest exit since 1990, and it will prompt hard questions back home about a side built to challenge for a sixth world title.

The loss also removes one of the tournament's biggest names from the draw and reshapes the run-in, with a traditional powerhouse gone before the last eight.

Norway's breakthrough

For Norway, a nation of little more than five million people and one that has often been a peripheral force at World Cups, it is a landmark. Reaching the quarterfinals for the first time, on the back of a talismanic performance from one of the world's best strikers, marks the country's deepest run at the tournament and guarantees a place among the last eight.

Norway will now go on to a quarterfinal against one of the other sides still standing, with the chance to push even further into uncharted territory. For a team long defined by near-misses, knocking out Brazil is the kind of result that reshapes a footballing generation's expectations.