The quarterfinal clash between England and Norway at the World Cup had plenty of twists and question marks. However, the first goal England scored during their topsy-turvy 2-1 win in the quarterfinals is under the scanner now. But when FIFA’s media team had an answer, using its latest technology, questions came up.
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“To answer the questions: The moment the ball makes contact with an outside object (in this case the camera cable) play becomes dead and should be restarted with a dropped ball,” Melissa Reddy, a renowned soccer journalist of over 13 years and former Sky Sports reporter wrote on X. “VAR could have intervened as it was in the immediate attacking phase of play that directly led to England’s goal.🙃”
In the buildup to England’s first goal, Orjan Nyland’s goalkick appeared to have hit FIFA’s Sky Cam as England regained possession. Just three passes later, the ball ended up in the back of Norway’s net, to the disappointment of Nyland and the entire Norway bench, as Nyland pointed to the sky to show the deflection. As such, FIFA also released a statement.
“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,” FIFA Media’s statement read on X.
Despite the video evidence showing the ball might have slightly brushed the camera, and the analysts on FOX even acknowledging it, FIFA’s video evidence provides conclusive evidence.
The tracking sensor is a built-in 500Hz IMU sensor embedded into Adidas Trionda, the official match ball of the FIFA World Cup 2026. The sensor technology was already at the heart of controversy during the Portugal-Croatia game.
Josko Gvardiol’s late equalizer against Portugal was canceled after a microscopic hair-touch by Igor Matanovic, who was offside. The sensor confirmed a spike when the ball made contact with Matanovic’s hair, proving the technology was right.
However, the same technology showed no noise during the England-Norway game. Norway took a shock lead in the 36th minute through Andreas Schjelderup in the 36th minute. England’s Jude Bellingham hit back in extra time of the first half.
Controversy followed in the second half as Norway had a goal ruled out due to a soft foul by VAR. As the game ended 1-1 after full-time, it went to extra time. Bellingham was on hand to tap in Morgan Rogers’ long-distance effort and win the clash for England. However, there was even a penalty for England that was overturned by VAR as the officials had an extremely eventful time.
England punched their ticket to the semifinals of the World Cup, where they will play either Argentina or Switzerland.
