EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — For the first time in this World Cup, two top-scoring stars meet in a knockout-round encounter when Vinicius Junior’s Brazil face Erling Haaland’s Norway in the round of 16 on Sunday.
Haaland has scored five times in Norway’s first World Cup appearance since 1998. He is tied for third behind Argentina’s Lionel Messi (seven) and France’s Kylian Mbappe (seven). Vinicius Junior was one of several players sitting on four goals.
For Norway, the match also will be arguably the biggest in the Nordic nation’s footballing history — at least since they last faced Brazil at that ‘98 tournament and earned a 2-1 victory in the group finale to book their place in the last 16.
That version of Brazil entered as tournament favorites and rotated its squad after clinching its place in the knockouts. This one is seen by some as eminently beatable, presenting Norway a chance to make national history with a first quarterfinal appearance.
“We need to play the match, not the circumstances,” insisted Norway manager Stole Solbakken. “We need to make sure that we don’t play according to the occasion but that we simply play the match.”
That largely means continuing to do what Norway have done, winning three of their four matches with their lone defeat coming while rotating their squad against France having already secured the last 32.
Haaland scored the late winner in a compelling 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast in the round of 32 in Arlington, Texas, and he’s found the net in all three of his tournament appearances. But while Brazil are synonymous globally with attacking football, Haaland may face the most formidable defensive duo he has seen so far in center backs Gabriel Magalhaes and Marquinhos.
“I think that Brazil has one of the greatest partnerships in the central defense in this World Cup,” Solbakken said. “But it’s, for me, more about Brazil against Norway and not those two against Haaland.”
Norway could be facing a second game without right back Julian Ryerson, but it’s Brazil who carry the more influential injury absence with Lucas Paqueta suffering a hamstring strain during their 2-1 victory over Japan in the round of 32.
That could bring more burden on midfield colleague Bruno Guimaraes, whose four assists rank second in the tournament behind the five of France’s Michael Olise. But the Newcastle United man believes he’s ready.
“The last World Cup was definitely a learning opportunity for me,” the 28-year-old said through an interpreter. “I wasn’t up to the task. I have to be quite honest with you. … But in this World Cup, my mindset is completely different. Again, this is my biggest dream. And I just want to play my best brand of football.”
Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti, the five-time UEFA Champions League winner hired 13 months ago to right what appeared to be a wayward ship, admitted there won’t be a perfect solution for replacing the work Paqueta does in connecting the defense to the attack.
“We do not have anyone else on the team with the same characteristics as Lucas Paqueta, so we’ll have to find someone else,” he said through an interpreter. “I’ll choose the player based on the type of match that we expect, considering obviously the strength of our opponent, because I think that’s something that we always have to take into account. And of course, we need to think about the idea that we want to score against them tomorrow.”
