World Cup Round of 16: Brazil 1 [Neymar 90+10 pen] Norway 2 [Haaland 79, 90]With a towering performance from goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland, and the customary two goals from their golden berserker Erling Haaland, Norway have knocked Brazil out of the World Cup.Haaland didn’t even touch the ball in the first quarter of the game. But in the 79th minute he sprang from the blindside of his marker Gabriel to leap for Alexander Schjelderup’s inswinging cross, and planted a downward header into the corner of Alisson Becker’s net.The confrontation between these old rivals at the City of Manchester Stadium was perhaps the pivotal moment of the Premier League title run-in. If Haaland had gone down when Gabriel seemed to headbutt him, would Manchester City have gone on to win the league?Looking back at how it’s all turned out, Haaland wouldn’t change a thing.Norway had signalled their intent from the third minute when Patrick Berg sidefooted into the roof of the net from Alexander Sorloth’s pullback, but their celebrations were cut short by the linesman’s flag. Martin Ødegaard had delayed his pass to Sorloth a little too long.On 14 minutes Kristoffer Ajer chopped down Matheus Cunha, and Brazil had a penalty, awarded after VAR sent the referee to the screen. The truly bewildering thing was how the American referee had managed not to see the foul in real time. As with the penalty Paraguay conceded against Desire Doué of France the day before, the offence could hardly have been more blatant. It seems referees are increasingly just leaving the big decisions to VAR, which is okay as long as VAR doesn’t randomly decide “now is not the time to re-referee the game”.We were expecting Vinicius Jr to take the penalty but instead Bruno Guimarães approached, stutter-stepped, and sent a weak effort to Nyland’s left: the Norwegian goalkeeper guessed correctly and saved. Bruno thus became the first Brazilian to miss a World Cup penalty since Zico against France in 1986.Bruno’s stutter brought him to a complete stop before he addressed the ball, which is probably why he got so little power into the strike. If players insist on embellishing their penalties with stutter-steps they ought to be practising the technique to the point where they can be sure they can execute it properly under pressure.Norway's goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland makes a save from Brazil's midfielder Bruno Guimarães during the Round of 16 match. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images Norway’s best chance came just before half-time when, as Haaland was crunched by both Brazil centre backs in the D, Ødegaard arrived to snap up the loose ball, nipped past a flailing challenge, and found himself with a clear shot on goal. But Alisson, rushing out, stopped his low drive. Terrific save though it was, Ødegaard’s effort was too close to him.Norway had been marginally the better side and if Ødegaard had been on his game they could have been 2-0 up.There was a surprise after half-time as Norway emerged with two new wingers, Sorloth and Antonio Nusa making way for Oscar Bobb and Schjelderup. Neither seemed to be injured: Ståle Solbakken seemed to think they hadn’t given enough, but by making his changes so early he was limiting his options for later in the game.Brazil’s first change, when it came, was a surprising one: Cunha off for Endrick, the player Brazil fans have been imploring Carlo Ancelotti to use from the start.His first touch was the best chance of the game so far. Vini Jr cut inside a defender on halfway, then split the next two with a beautiful outside of the boot pass that set Endrick racing clear, one-on-one. But the 19-year old’s first touch was heavy, meaning he had to stretch off-balance for the finish rather than being completely in control. His attempted dink over the onrushing Nyland bounced wide of the far post.Nyland was having an excellent game, and minutes later he saved point-blank from Bruno Guimarães, who had been set free in the box by a knock-down.On 66 minutes Alisson flapped at Schjelderup’s cross but at least managed to deflect the ball away from Haaland. Moments later the number 9 did connect with Ajer’s low ball to the far post, but not enough to turn it inside Alisson’s post.It was at this point that Ancelotti played his joker: Neymar coming off the bench to a gigantic response from the Brazil fans. They were putting their faith in the memories of his magic.Erling Haaland leads the post-game celebrations for Norway. Photograph: Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images But in Haaland, Norway had the real thing.The next chance fell to Schjelderup whose diagonal shot was tipped around the near post by Alisson. The winger was proving an inspired substitution by Solbakken. Moments later, he created that decisive first goal for Haaland.The coup de grace came on 89. Schjelderup laid it back to Haaland, 25 yards out. He took a touch and then, as casually as if he was doing shooting practice in the warm-up, hammered a clean shot into Alisson’s bottom corner. The goal sent him joint-top of the Golden Boot race with Messi and Mbappé, with seven goals.The last few minutes there was a scuffle between the two sets of players, as Brazil struggled to process their first elimination as early as the last 16 since 1990, when Diego Maradona and Claudio Caniggia knocked them out in Turin.There was a consolation of sorts for Neymar in the 98th minute, when Brazil won a second penalty after Leo Østigård elbowed Casemiro in the box. Brazil’s No 10 placed the kick casually in the bottom corner as Nyland stood in the middle. Neymar seemed to try to gloat over the Norwegian goalkeeper. This seemed misplaced in the sad context.For Brazil, it just keeps getting worse. Despite some razor-sharp finishing by Vini Jr, they’ve never looked truly convincing here. Hiring the most successful coach in Champions League history couldn’t turn them into winners. Where can they turn next?The Vikings storm on to Miami. Could Norway, a country with the same population as Ireland, really go all the way and win this thing?With Haaland, anything is possible.World Cup Wallchart