100,000 Oslo fans welcome Norway home after quarter-final exit

Over 100,000 turned out in Oslo

Your team came home to something bigger than a quarter-final exit. On Monday afternoon, over 100,000 fans packed central Oslo to welcome the Norway squad back after their 2–1 defeat by England on Saturday (1). No trophy in hand, and it did not matter. The parade stretched through streets thick with flags and noise, a hero's welcome for the team that knocked out Brazil and pushed England to extra time.

England 2–1 Norway: how it ended

Another knockout heartbreak, another fine performance. England needed extra time to get past your team in the quarter-finals, and the 2–1 scoreline tells you how tight it was (1). Norway's defensive shape held for most of normal time, the same discipline that frustrated Brazil in the last round. One moment in extra time unravelled it. The run was over, but nobody in Oslo on Monday was in the mood to mourn.

Agbonlahor: Madueke played himself out of England's XI

Gabby Agbonlahor did not hold back. Speaking after England's win over Norway, he argued Noni Madueke should lose his starting spot, and that Marcus Rashford or Bukayo Saka would trouble Argentina's full-backs more (3). "I think Madueke has played himself out of a starting spot," Agbonlahor said (3). A backhanded compliment for your team: Norway's defence made an England winger look so ordinary that his place is now in question.

Fan-reaktioner

The mood online after the parade was pure pride, not resignation. Fans pointed to the numbers, over 100,000 on the streets, as proof that this team has changed how Norway is seen at a World Cup. The line doing the rounds: no one expected the quarter-finals, but after Brazil, everyone believed.