MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Erling Haaland can smell blood. "I think there are some clear favourites out there. England is one of them," Haaland said on Thursday, attempting to hide a thin smirk. "I think all of you should put every single pressure on the English lads."
Thomas Tuchel says the world's greatest strikers like Harry Kane and Haaland all share the same characteristic: they are sharks. When they see an opportunity, they go for the kill. Haaland is certainly up for ending England's World Cup dreams when his Norway side meet them in the sweltering heat of Miami on Saturday afternoon in this quarterfinal.
This is the furthest Norway's men's team have ever been in a major tournament. They head into this match buoyed by their heroic 2-1 win over Ivory Coast, and defeating Brazil by the same margin in the round of 16. They are building, and everyone is getting very excited. You'd have seen the countless videos of Norway's "Viking Row", the latest mass-participation fan event was on Miami beach on Friday afternoon. All the while the team have been enjoying Miami, keeping training to a minimum, managing energy, adjusting to the heat and humidity, plotting and trying to shift the focus onto England. "England has more pressure than us," Ståle Solbakken said in his pre-match press conference Friday.
Regardless of where the balance of pressure lies, this will be a match of familiarity. These two teams know each other well. Elite football is a small world. Nine of the Norway squad play in England, including Haaland and captain Martin Ødegaard. The two Bundesliga players will be fully aware of Kane's threats, as will Atlético Madrid's Alexander Sørloth when it comes to Jude Bellingham.
While Norway talked up England, Tuchel's side were back at their base in Kansas, regrouping after that epic 3-2 win over Mexico. Jordan Henderson was having surgery on his broken arm, after falling over the advertising hoarding in the post-match celebrations. The representations to FIFA from the FA on Jarell Quansah's red card were met with deaf ears, so he'll miss their next two matches, leaving England with yet another conundrum at right-back. But after a nervy 24 hours where Reece James, Marc Guéhi and Declan Rice all missed training, all three were on the grass at Inter Miami's complex in Fort Lauderdale on Friday afternoon. "It was the best news," Tuchel said.
This will be England's first match in the boiling temperatures we talked about pre-tournament as something for them to navigate. They've played in air conditioning twice, rain twice and then in Mexico, which was humid but mild. They got a small taste of what conditions await them when they trained in 35°C on Friday afternoon in the blistering sun. Inter Miami owner Sir David Beckham watched on as England went through their final preparations. Henderson sat in the shade, a towel covering his arm, with Tuchel on the end of the bench, making a flurry of notes in his notebook.
England got their emotional level spot on for the trip to Mexico. Tuchel promised everyone that England would meet fire with fire. It had been a shaky campaign up until then, with England playing brilliantly in the second half to get past Croatia 4-2, but then laboured to a dire 0-0 draw with Ghana, and were made to work for their 2-0 win over Panama. They then needed that man Kane to get them past Congo DR with two late goals securing the 2-1 win. And then Mexico -- the Estadio Azteca in the midst of a thunderstorm, at altitude, at a ground Mexico have only lost twice at. Meeker teams would have crumbled, but England stood tall, putting in a performance of steely-eyed determination and sheer spirit. "We took a big step, we're still hungry, we still have big goals to play for," Tuchel said. "The next step is to win the quarterfinal. The next step is to take this belief with us."
But they'll need more of the same if they are to get past Norway. These two have met 12 times before -- four times competitively -- with England winning just one of those matches. Norway's 2-1 win in 1981 led to that famous line from commentator Bjorge Lillelien, at full time who roared a message to then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: "Your boys took a hell of a beating!" We may not get the same timeless line this weekend, but there won't be any shortage of blood and thunder on the pitch.
Inevitably the focus of this match boils down to two protagonists. While you have the two No. 10s in Bellingham -- arguably England's best player at this World Cup -- and Ødegaard on opposite sides, it's also Kane vs. Haaland, despite Solbakken trying to shift the narrative away from this match boiling down to who scores more between the two. "I think it's Norway versus England but it's not a secret that Kane is England's number one match-winner and Erling is the same for us," Solbakken said.
Both have had remarkable tournaments. Haaland started off with a brace in Norway's 4-1 win over Iraq and after the match was asked whether he is the best striker in the world. He deferred that accolade to Kane and Kylian Mbappé. But he followed that up with two more against Senegal, and went on to miss their last group game against France, benched with Norway safely through. By the knockouts, he was back, though, and scored the late winner in Norway's 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast, and then hit both of their goals against Brazil, the second a thunderous effort from outside the box. His seven goals sit him just one behind Mbappe and Leo Messi.
For Kane, he has six valuable strikes for England. After a remarkable campaign where he scored 61 goals for Bayern Munich, he took that form into the World Cup. He grabbed two in their opener against Croatia, and scored one against Panama. He was the match-winner for England in their 2-1 win over Congo DR in the round of 32 with a neat header and a well-placed finish for their second. He led from the front in the Mexico match, scoring their winner from the spot in the second half.
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It's a tantalising match-up, but while Haaland was full of mischief, Kane is more measured. When asked who's the better striker, Kane answered: "That's impossible for me to answer -- we're completely different players. We're strikers, but in different positions. His goalscoring record, he's a machine, he's a beast, his finishing has been at the highest level. I don't think it's one to compare ourselves. I hope he has a quiet day tomorrow."
England will be favourites for Saturday. An estimated 30,000 England fans are meant to be on the ground in Miami, filling out the bars on South Beach, while Norway's travelling contingent will be hoping that by full-time, Haaland will be standing on the pitch, with his drum, conducting his teammates and the crowd for yet another mass "Viking Row" session.
This will ultimately come down to small margins with the heat likely to play a part, but in a game of very few guarantees, it's a safe bet that when the final whistle sounds, Haaland and Kane will have played a key role in whatever's played out. In their very different ways both are game-changing, ruthless hunters. "We've taken some good steps in the right direction, and now we're in the final eight days," Kane said. "We're going to need everyone to be at the highest level to achieve our dreams, and that starts tomorrow evening."
