Harry Kane and England unconvincingly cried foul play in the buildup for Norway’s opener in Saturday’s World Cup quarterfinal but it appears as though it was the Scandinavians who were hard done by in the first half.There was nothing wrong with Jude Bellingham’s brilliant individual burst, collecting Anthony Gordon’s low ball across the edge of the box, skipping past Torbjørn Heggem before picking out the bottom corner.However, the controversy began with Ørjan Nyland’s goal kick a matter of seconds earlier. The long pass punted forward dropped surprisingly short, allowing Elliot Anderson to pick up possession and set the passage of play in motion which ended with Bellingham’s goal. As Nyland and Norway manager Ståle Solbakken vociferously pointed out to the officials, the ball appeared to hit the wire of the spidercam suspended above the pitch.On the play that led to England's equalizer, the ball hit the FIFA sky cam before the goal. pic.twitter.com/QZgYSVcSpK— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 11, 2026Spidercam is not considered a part of the pitch. The ball can hit the posts, crossbars and corner flags and still be considered “in play” but this extra camera equipment is not. Hitting spidercam is akin to the ball striking the referee: the play should have been called back and England’s equalizer would have been swiftly chalked off.Every goal is reviewed by VAR but the footage which the officials were shown clearly didn’t show the offense clearly enough. It’s important to stress that the evidence has to be conclusive, which is an inherently subjective term that offers referees some wiggle room.Has This Ever Happened Before?There are so many soccer games which are played with the benefit of a spidercam that this was bound to have happened before, but it is, of course, exceedingly rare. One recent example came during Canada’s Concacaf Gold Cup group stage clash with El Salvador last summer.Unlike the subtle incident in England’s knockout tie with Norway, few could miss the contact betweent he camera and the ball, with debris flying from the sky after a lofty clearance connected. As Norway may no doubt point out, the referee halted play on that ocassion. READ THE LATEST WORLD CUP NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FCAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow