England icon Ian Wright has criticized Erling Haaland's father after he claimed that the Three Lions were saved by the referee during their 2-1 FIFA World Cup win over Norway. The two sides locked horns in the World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, July 11.
Norway opened the scoring after Andreas Schjelderup found the back of the net in the 36th minute. However, Jude Bellingham leveled the scores with an excellent finish at the stroke of half-time to take the game to extra time (45+2'). The latter then completed his brace following Orjan Nyland's error in the 93rd minute to ensure England progressed to the FIFA World Cup semi-finals.
However, their FIFA World Cup contest had its fair share of controversy. Erling Haaland and Co. claimed that the ball struck one of the Spidercam wires in the air, which led to Bellingham's equalizer. In addition, Torbjorn Heggem's goal was ruled out in the second half after Haaland appeared to shove Elliot Anderson in the build-up.
Following the game, Alf-Inge Haaland, who was present at the Miami Stadium, responded to Fabrizio Romano on X, tweeting (via METRO):
He then responded to Henry Winter's tweet praising Bellingham by stating:
During a recent episode of the Stick to Football podcast, Wright slammed Haaland:
After FIFA released an official statement to dismiss the Spidercam wire incident, Wright added:
He concluded:
England will next face Argentina in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals on July 15.
Argentina superstar Lionel Messi is relishing the opportunity to face England in their upcoming FIFA World Cup semi-final clash. His comments arrived after he provided one assist to help La Albiceleste defeat 10-man Switzerland 3-1 in their quarter-final clash on July 11.
While Messi has faced many top-quality sides in his iconic career, the 39-year-old is set to face England for the very first time. Following the game, he said (via METRO):
England will have to be at their very best to shut down Messi. He has been sensational at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, recording eight goals and two assists.
Quick Links