2026 World Cup: Norway burned after missed collision with sky cam wire led to England goal, along with controversial VAR review

No matter how the match with Norway and England ends, the Norwegians will not be thanking the officials. The Vikings and the Three Lions remained locked in a 1-1 draw in the second half thanks to two tough calls — one missed, one called through VAR — that both went against Norway.

England’s Jude Bellingham equalized with a great goal in first-half stoppage time. But after halftime, Fox Sports showed that the ball clipped the sky cam wire in the run-up to that goal, landing sharply at the feet of Elliot Anderson.

Norway goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland, who had cleared the ball before it hit the wire, try to alert the referees to what had happened; manager Ståle Solbakken could later be seen doing the same.

Theoretically, the contact with the wire should have resulted in the game coming to a stop.

It’s unclear why the referee crew didn’t catch that given that the game balls are equipped with censors that are supposed to be able to record minimal amounts of contact.

Via, Martyn Ziegler of The Times, FIFA checked the data from the sensor but did not find any evidence of a collision.

Just ten minutes into the second half, Norway appeared to find a go-ahead goal, with Torbjørn Heggem sending the ball home off a corner kick. But the goal was called back after VAR review, with referees citing a (somewhat soft) foul from Erling Haaland on Anderson.

This story will be updated.