England’s 2-1 quarter-final victory over Norway in Miami has been overshadowed by a heated dispute over whether the ball struck a spidercam wire before Jude Bellingham’s equaliser.
Norway players and coaching staff immediately protested after the goal stood, insisting the ball had visibly deviated after clipping one of the camera cables suspended above the pitch.
Had the ball been judged to have touched the wire, the goal would have been ruled out and play restarted with a dropped ball under the tournament’s laws.
Fifa subsequently issued a statement confirming there was “no evidence” the ball had made contact with any overhead wire during the build-up.
Fifa Media posted on X: “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 that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball.”
Norway head coach Stale Solbakken remained unconvinced, stating that virtually everyone on his bench had reacted immediately upon seeing the ball drop.
“The ball dropped down straight from heaven, says everyone – including the goalie, including the guy who was going to receive the ball,” Solbakken said. “I think it was pretty clear that it did. It was a strange thing.”
Solbakken added that referee Clement Turpin had told him he received no signal indicating any contact had occurred with the cable.
Norway midfielder Sander Berge, who plays for Fulham, expressed clear frustration with how the margins of the game had fallen against his side.
“It’s ridiculous, this one with the wire,” Berge said. “2-1 says itself – there are small margins and we know which way it went.”
Norway captain Martin Odegaard also voiced his unhappiness with how several key decisions went against his team throughout the quarter-final contest.
“I didn’t see it myself, but margins were not in our favour today with some of the decisions,” Odegaard said. “Maybe you need that in games like this.”
Norway had additional cause for grievance when a second-half header from Torbjorn Heggem was disallowed after VAR ruled Erling Haaland had shoved Elliot Anderson at the corner.
“It’s an advantage to be as big and physically strong as Erling, but you get punished if you hold a player,” Berge said.
Former England striker Wayne Rooney, speaking on BBC Sport, acknowledged the ball appeared to behave unusually during the passage of play leading to Bellingham’s goal.
“The ball seems to deviate and come down quickly,” Rooney said. “It sort of deviates the ball.”
England head coach Thomas Tuchel referenced the Snickometer-style ball-sensor technology that had already proven decisive earlier in the tournament during Portugal’s win over Croatia.
“There is a chip in the ball who can tell you if a hair touches it as we know since the Croatia v Portugal game, so they should be able to tell you if it happened,” Tuchel said.
Tuchel was candid in acknowledging that England had benefited from fortune at key moments across the tournament so far.
“I’m not saying we are lucky to win, but we are lucky in decisive moments,” he said.
