KANSAS CITY, MO – England is going to stop Norway forward Erling Haaland from scoring in the World Cup quarterfinal.
That’s the plan.
Well, at least, that’s the idea for the plan. Even England players are wondering if it will be possible to keep the Manchester City forward, who has scored seven goals in four World Cup matches and at least one in every game he has played at the tournament to power Norway to the quarterfinal showdown with the Three Lions, down.
“Has anyone ever stopped Erling Haaland? I’m not sure they have, but we’re going to try. You’re going to have to try,” England midfielder Morgan Rogers said Wednesday at a news conference. “He’s such an unbelievable player, the things he does, the numbers he puts up.
“You’re just in awe of how good he is, the level he’s at. We’re going to have to maybe try and stop how they play and work on those things and maybe stop how the ball is going into him, how to stop those chances because he’s so deadly in front of goal.”
Informed that his Aston Villa team, including club and country teammate Ezri Konsa, had actually kept Haaland off the board in their last four Premier League meetings, Rogers chuckled. “Maybe a bit of luck as well,” he said. “We’ve done well in those games against City, but every game is a different game.”
England’s quarterfinal against Norway certainly will look different from the club showdowns. They are against totally different teams, and while Haaland continues his torrid scoring pace, the Norway squad plays in a much different way than Haaland’s Man City.
Still, Rogers noted there is familiarity not just with the most famous Viking in the world, who is adding nearly 1 million social media followers a day across all accounts as more and more fans see him score, but with the rest of the Norway squad.
“It’s not just him,” Rogers cautioned. “They’ve got other good players as well that we play against on a regular basis as well in the Premier League that we need to be mindful of. They’re a really good team. That’s what I think their biggest super-strength is, that as a team, as a unit, they’re so strong.”
England also boasts a strong team unit, with Rogers typically coming off the bench to replace another top attacker, a luxury few other teams at the tournament have. England also has a star forward leading the line in the form of 32-year-old Harry Kane.
Kane has six goals at the tournament, two off Lionel Messi for first in the Golden Boot race and one behind Haaland but has struck in key moments, pushing England to a 2-1 win over DR Congo in the round of 32 despite the European side conceding first. Kane then assisted one goal and scored from the penalty spot in England’s thrilling 3-2 win over Mexico at the Estadio Azteca.
With Kane in great form for England after coming off a strong club season with Bayern Munich, Rogers has backed the veteran forward to have the edge over Haaland when the two share the field Saturday.
“The Harry Kane-Haaland debate will live on I think,” he said. “Completely different strikers, but they’re the two − for me − at the top of their game and have been two of the best players at this tournament. It’s a spectacle, I suppose, for the fans and going to be a good one to see who comes out on top.
“Hope it’s Harry, and I’m sure it will be. We’ve got that confidence in him, and he’s playing at probably the highest level he’s ever played at, which is madness to say because of what he’s been doing for so many years. To say that this is the best is crazy, really, but he’s such a good player, such a good leader. We’ll be leaning on him for the game for sure.”
England will be hoping to book a return trip to the semifinals after making the final four in the 2018 World Cup in Russia but falling to Croatia. In 2022, it fell to France at the quarterfinal stage. Norway has never made a Men’s World Cup semifinal.
The match kicks off Saturday, July 11, in Miami at 5 p.m. ET.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can England stop Erling Haaland? Quarterfinal clash with Norway hinges on it
