Another day, another controversy erupted in the FIFA World Cup 2026. The quarterfinal between England and Norway couldn’t escape controversy as Norway’s second goal was disallowed for a foul. England’s second goal, despite the ball touching the spider camera, was allowed. Despite all this chaos, Norway’s coach Ståle Solbakken chose to embrace the result. He wished England luck for their next stage. But as for Norway’s manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, the team is very frustrated with how things went against them.

“Norway have been cheated. I don’t say that lightly, but I genuinely don’t understand how that goal has been disallowed,” Solskjær said after the game. “I watched the replay several times, and I don’t see enough contact from Erling Haaland on Anderson to justify canceling the goal. Football is a physical game. Players are allowed to compete for position. If we’re going to disallow goals for every slight touch, then we’ll be ruling out goals every weekend.”

While the VAR was implemented to reduce human error in officiating, the reality was different. VAR gets repeatedly checked in case of minor physicality.

Erling Haaland had a goal disallowed in the 2-1 quarter-final defeat to England. The referee chalked it off because Haaland used both hands to push an English defender to the ground before a corner kick was taken, resulting in a foul for excessive force. VAR focused on the fact that Haaland’s shoved Elliot Anderson, completely taking him out of the play and preventing him from defending the incoming corner kick. Solskjær disagreed.

“Haaland didn’t push him with excessive force, he didn’t pull him back, and he certainly didn’t do enough to make Anderson fall the way he did. For me, Anderson goes down far too easily, and the referee has rewarded it,” he added.

“VAR is supposed to correct clear mistakes, not create controversy where there wasn’t any. I don’t believe this was a clear foul. I believe it was two players competing physically, which is something we’ve seen in football for decades. These decisions change matches. At 2–1, England are under enormous pressure. Instead, Norway has a perfectly good goal taken away, and that is incredibly difficult to accept. If that’s enough contact to disallow a goal, then football is becoming impossible for centre-forwards. In my opinion, Norway deserved that goal, and they’ve every right to feel extremely disappointed,” Solskjær further added.

Going up 2-1 with 35 minutes left of normal time would have allowed Norway to drop into a low defensive block. Backed by the playmaking of Martin Ødegaard and the counter-attacking threat of Haaland, an organized Norwegian defense would have forced a frantic England side to overextend. The reality came out differently, and just added another controversial match to the FIFA World Cup 2026’s portfolio.