Norway's World Cup ends in the quarters, Oslo welcomes them home like champions

A quarter-final exit, a heroes' welcome

Your World Cup is over. England 2–1 Norway after extra time, and Jude Bellingham scored twice to overturn your lead (1) (4). The quarter-final was the end of the road, but nobody back home treated it like a defeat.

More than 100,000 fans flooded Oslo's streets. The squad performed a Viking row on the palace steps. Erling Haaland, fresh from a campaign that included knocking out Brazil in the round of 16, disembarked holding a stuffed raccoon with an empty whisky bottle (3). It was that kind of tournament.

Haaland's goal wrecked living rooms across Norway

One moment sums up what this run meant. When Haaland scored, Norwegian fans celebrated so hard that sofas were destroyed and at least one TV was smashed (2). It has become an insurance case. That is the headline now: a goal so big it broke furniture.

Tuchel and Bellingham brush off the tension

Thomas Tuchel insists there are "no cracks" in his relationship with Bellingham, despite criticising him after the match (4). Tuchel admitted England "made life very, very difficult" for themselves against Norway (4). Joe Hart, on pundit duty, had to be kept in check by Mark Chapman during the post-match analysis of Bellingham's interview (1).

What comes next

This was Norway's best-ever World Cup result. The gap to the elite was real, Bellingham's quality made the difference, but the foundation is there. The question now is whether your team can build on it consistently.

Fan reactions

A telling stat surfaced after England's semi-final against Argentina: the first 30 minutes produced zero shots, breaking a record previously held by England–Norway, which waited 29 minutes (Reddit, 1). Norwegian fans are taking it with humor, your team made England so cautious they nearly set a record for dull football. The mood on Reddit is part pride, part gallows humor, and entirely celebratory about the tournament as a whole.

See the full thread