Дэлхийн аваргын шөвгийн наймд Англид нэмэлт цагт хожигдсон ч Норвегийн шигшээ баг эх орондоо бахархал, хайр хүндэтгэлийг мэдрүүлж чадлаа.
Осло хотын гудамжинд 150 мянга орчим хөгжөөн дэмжигч цуглаж, багийнхаа амжилтыг шөнийн 03 цаг хүртэл тэмдэглэсэн нь Норвегийн хөлбөмбөгийн түүхэн дэх хосгүй үйл явдал боллоо. Өнгөрсөн долоо хоногт Бразилыг хожиход 2.16 сая үзэгч телевизээр үзэж, улс орон даяар хөлбөмбөгийн халуурал үүсээд байсан юм. Хөгжөөн дэмжигчид Норвегийн баг өөрсдийг нь нэгтгэж, улс даяар баяр хөөр бэлэглэснийг онцолж байв.
Тоглолтын хувьд Андреас Шелдеруп эхний гоолыг оруулж, Ослог баяр хөөрөөр дүүргэсэн ч Жүүд Беллингхэм тооны харьцааг тэнцүүлснээр тоглолт нэмэлт цаг руу шилжсэн. Норвегийн зүгээс Торбьорн Хеггемийн тооцоогүй болсон гоол болон Давид Мёллер Волфын хөндлөвч оносон цохилт нь харамсалтай байсан бол Английн гоолын үед бөмбөг дээгүүрх кабельд хүрсэн байж болзошгүй гэх эргэлзээ үлдэв.
Эрлинг Холанд, Мартин Эдегор тэргүүтэй Норвегийн шигшээ 1998 оноос хойших анхны дэлхийн аваргаа ийнхүү өндөрлүүлсэн нь ирээдүйн амжилтын эхлэл хэмээн нутгийнхан дүгнэж байна. Нэмэлт цагт Жүүд Беллингхэмийн хоёр дахь гоол шийдвэрлэх ач холбогдолтой болж, Эрлинг Холандыг сэлгээгээр суулгасны дараа Норвегийн хөгжөөн дэмжигчдийн найдвар тасарсан юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Sunrise had arrived in Oslo and on the hill topped by the Royal Palace, there were thousands unwilling to let go. Of the night, of the moment, of a World Cup adventure.
Fireworks and flares were let off and music blared from portable speakers to attract more and more to a boisterous 3am scene. They kept on singing and rowing as though Norway had just won their quarter-final in Miami. That it had been England appeared a minor detail.
This has been one of Norway’s great months and reaching the end of the line was as much cause for pride as dejection across the capital.
A nation populated by 5.6million people had made waves in coming this far, first by beating Ivory Coast in the knockouts and then Brazil through Erling Haaland’s fine brace. England had been a step too far in Norway’s first World Cup since 1998 but the masses on Oslo’s streets — an estimated 150,000 people — rejoiced all the same.
Norway fans do the famous Viking row in Oslo while waiting for entry to a public screening before the match (Reuters/Leonhard Foeger)
“This team has brought the whole country together,” says Vegard Ergan, watching the fan zone empty from the City Hall steps. He had travelled 60 miles with friends and family to feel the buzz in Norway’s capital.
“Only football can do this. Not skiing. There has been so much joy. I saw the 1998 win against Brazil (at the France World Cup) and it was something like this but for one evening. It has been like this for 14 days.”
Also in that travelling group was 16-year-old Linus. “A lot of people who had never watched football started to watch this team and that is great. But right now I feel like we have a whole country that is going to be disappointed for two or three days.”
Norway will mourn the moments that blocked their path; the disallowed goal from Torbjorn Heggem in the second half and David Moller Wolfe’s header against the bar. There were also suspicions England’s equaliser had involved the ball clipping an overhead cable.
Norway had a goal disallowed after a VAR intervention (Reuters/Paul Childs)
Fortune was not a friend but one extra-time defeat was not about to undermine what has been a transformative month. One of the Royal Palace guards, on duty for the evening, puffed out his cheeks when asked what the scene below would have looked like with a Norway win. “They would not go home,” he said.
Norway has been a country consumed by the World Cup. The last-16 win over Brazil last weekend saw a peak audience of 2.16million tune into coverage on the public broadcaster NRK. Its sports editor Espen Olsen Langfeldt called it “TV history” in the aftermath. “These are numbers we haven’t seen in many years,” he told the news agency NTB.
There was a huge watch party outside the Royal Palace for the narrow defeat (Reuters/Leonhard Foeger)
The scale of celebrations, too, were unparalleled after the Brazil victory. Public screenings have attracted huge numbers to the streets of cities and towns across the country, with an estimated 100,000 gathering in Oslo. Among a sea of rowers afterwards was Crown Prince Haakon, heir to Norway’s throne.
Brazil was momentous but facing England in the quarter-finals had the potential to be even bigger. Every tabloid newspaper led with Norway’s biggest-ever sporting moment on its front page. Aftenposten, the country’s biggest, listed 89 great Norwegians, including artist Edvard Munch and chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, above the headline “Norway, the land of giants”.
This was a country all-in. The Nike store on Oslo’s Karl Johans Gate had sold out of Norway shirts, home and away, in the first week of the World Cup and, from early on Saturday morning, there were flags and plastic Viking helmets at every turn.
Martin Flaten (left) and Eskil Flood were two of the thousands queuing to get into the fan festival (Phil Buckingham/The Athletic)
A free screening in front of Stortinget, Norway’s parliament, had fans queuing from 7am, eight hours before the site opened and 16 hours ahead of kick-off. Among that group was Eskil Flood, wearing a plastic crown and face paint that required optimism for the long day ahead.
“I have never seen anything like this,” he says. “Norwegians are usually introverts, kind of shy, but in this World Cup it has been pure joy and excitement. It has been amazing.”
Martin Flaten was another queuing for an event that would reach its 1,000 capacity long before kick-off. “It’s going to be a great day, a lot of love. We are Norwegians all together to support our guys.”
That it was England, of all teams, providing the opposition only accentuated the anticipation. Norway is a nation of Anglophiles and has long held an obsession for the English game since live matches were first broadcast in 1969. Nine of the 26-man squad, including Haaland and captain Martin Odegaard, are contracted to English clubs and a sign greeting arrivals at Oslo airport has playfully suggested “Football’s coming hjem” this week.
“We’ve all grown up with English football, so it’s huge for us and for Norway,” says Flood. “Haaland is England, Odegaard as well. We have beaten England before and we hope to do it again.”
Fans watching at the Royal Palace react during the game (Reuters/Leonhard Foeger)
Hope was not in short supply across a city that began drinking from lunchtime and refused to stop. Five gigantic screens had been positioned between the picturesque harbour and the City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year. They had DJs and live music but also incessant rain for an hour either side of kick-off at 11pm.
Not that it could dampen the mood once Norway grabbed a spectacular lead. Andreas Schjelderup’s fierce drive was the trigger for a wild eruption, with bodies bouncing off one another.
It was happening again, yet not for long enough. Jude Bellingham’s equaliser drained the delirium before it could build over half-time, much like Norway’s disallowed goal soon after the restart. It is safe to conclude that few concurred with the VAR’s decision to punish Haaland’s shove.
Those closing stages that led to extra time were a picture of anxiety. A crowd almost universally wearing red shuffled and shifted weight as a coping mechanism before a collective gasp met Bellingham’s second. Norway, most sensed, were done and so it proved. The groans that greeted Haaland’s withdrawal midway through extra time were telling.
Norwegians were out past midnight to watch the end of their team’s World Cup adventure (Reuters/Leonhard Foeger)
It might have been tempting to conclude the tagline Alt for Norge — All for Norway — had become all for nothing but that would overlook all that had gone before. The World Cup was undeniably better for having Norway around. They can only hope it is not another 28 years before they get to do it all again.
