England were fortunate not to find themselves 2-1 down against Norway in their World Cup quarter-final.
The Three Lions thought they had fallen behind once more at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, as Torbjorn Heggem prodded home on 55 minutes to put the Scandinavians ahead for a second time - or so he thought.
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The goal was quickly chalked off, with the video assistant referee telling referee Clement Turpin to go and review the goal on the monitor, with Erling Haaland adjudged to have pushed Elliot Anderson before Martin Odegaard had swung the corner in.
Chaos ensued as the Arsenal skipper delivered the set play, with England failing to clear and Heggem forcing it over the line to spark mayhem amongst the Norwegian fans.
The England players complained to Turpin, who was sent to the monitor and disallowed the goal as a result of Haaland’s push.
“After review, No9 of Norway pushed deliberately the defender before the ball was in play,” Turpin announced to the Hard Rock Stadium. “Final decision, corner be retaken.”
On ITV, referee analyst Christina Unkel said before the VAR decision was made: “They are checking Haaland’s full extension of that push.
“The precaution of VAR is whether or not that would have prevented [Anderson] from having meaningful impact and to defend that ball. I would be surprised if there was not a recommendation to overturn this goal.”
There was further controversy in the awarding of another corner for Norway, rather than a free kick in England’s favour after the push, and the disallowed goal also saw FIFA’s new rule put into practice, with the strike chalked off because of the foul, despite the fact that it had been committed before the corner was taken.
It was the second controversial decision taken by Turpin in the last-eight encounter, with Harry Kane not awarded a foul in the lead-up to Norway’s opener, which was scored by Andreas Schjelderup on 35 minutes.
