Brazil came to the World Cup as the tournament's most decorated nation. On Sunday, Norway sent it home early, and did so in front of a crowd that had come to cheer the other team.
Haaland finishes the job
Norway beat Brazil 2-1 in the Round of 16 at the New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., with Erling Haaland scoring both goals, ESPN reported. The Manchester City striker broke a tense game open in the 79th minute and struck again late, punishing a Brazilian side that had controlled long stretches without turning that control into goals.
The brace lifted Haaland level with Lionel Messi at the top of the tournament's scoring chart, with seven goals, Al Jazeera reported, keeping him in the race for the Golden Boot as well as the last eight.
Neymar's late consolation
Brazil got a goal back through Neymar, who had come off the bench around the hour mark and converted a penalty deep into stoppage time, Al Jazeera reported. It was too little and too late, and for the 34-year-old it may have been a final World Cup act, a bittersweet note in a match his country will want to forget. Norway's goalkeeper, Ørjan Nyland, was otherwise untroubled enough to keep Brazil at bay, conceding only from the spot.
A historic low for Brazil
For Brazil, the defeat is a genuine shock and a marker of decline. Losing in the Round of 16 is the team's earliest World Cup exit since 1990, ESPN reported, and it extends a long wait for a sixth title that now stretches back to 2002. The scenes at the final whistle, Brazilian players slumped on the turf, told the story of expectations that once again went unmet.
Norway's breakthrough
For Norway, a nation that has spent most of its football history on the outside of the game's biggest moments, this was uncharted ground. Reaching a World Cup quarterfinal for the first time, on the back of a generational talent in Haaland, turns a promising team into a genuine story of the tournament.
Norway will now wait to learn its quarterfinal opponent, the winner of the Round of 16 match between Mexico and England. Whoever it is, the Norwegians will arrive with belief, and with the tournament's hottest striker leading the line. On a night made for an upset, they seized it.
