Online Reporter
COMETH the hour, cometh the big man.
Erling Haaland did not even touch the ball with his feet in the opening quarter of the game.
By 85 minutes, his most important contributions had been defensive headers in his own penalty area.
Yet just as Amad Diallo’s equaliser was threatening to force extra time, Haaland made his mark with his fifth goal of the tournament.
Even then there was a hint of luck about the winner.
The Norwegians had worked the ball well from substitute Oscar Bobb to Patrick Berg.
The Bodo/Glimt midfielder’s cross took out three Ivory Coast players and laid a goal on a plate for Haaland.
As every Norwegian in the stadium prepared to celebrate, the ball seemed to hit Haaland’s trusty left foot.
He sensed the contact might not be enough to beat Yahia Fofana and moved to follow it up.
But over the line it went and into the last 16 went Norway.
They just about deserved it, in the end, having taken a first-half lead through Antonio Nusa.
Norway boss Stale Solbakken retained only Berg from the non-event against France in which he and his team allowed Ousmane Dembele to enter the Golden Boot race with a hat-trick in a 4-1 win.
The idea, with qualification already secured by two wins, was to rest the first team.
Yet the Norwegians hardly looked at full strength for most of the first half.
Until Nusa’s sumptuous opening goal, Solbakken’s side and Haaland were bang average.
The first difficult task for Ivorian goalkeeper Yahia Fofana was picking the ball out of his net.
Odegaard fed Nusa, the defence stood off him, and he stroked a lovely shot across Fofana and into the top corner.
Amazingly, Norway could have gone into half time three up.
Another Sorloth header opened up a chance for Haaland, but his tame-looking shot was blocked anyway by Nottingham Forest’s Ibrahim Sangare.
From the resulting corner, Sorloth sent a header narrowly wide. Former Wolves defender Emmanuel Agbadou also off target and the Ivory Coast could feel aggrieved to be behind.
But they now needed to show more attacking intent of their own.
Strasbourg full back Guela Doue – brother of Paris Saint-Germain forward Desire – was rightly annoyed no-one was able to convert the cross he fizzed across the box.
Norway wasted a good opening of their own when yet again they could not find the right final ball.
They were almost punished when the ball broke to Pepe in the penalty area, but his left-foot shot was beaten away by Norway ‘keeper Orjan Nyland.
An Odegaard free kick was inadvertently bundled towards goal but Fofana gathered easily.
The Ivory Coast turned to Amad and Elye Wahi to give them more forward thrust with half an hour to go.
They immediately looked more threatening and Haaland made another good headed clearance in his own box.
At the other end, Amad cleared off the line after Norway centre back Torbjorn Heggem connected with Sorloth’s flick.
And straight after the second hydration break, the United star made a decisive impact in the other penalty area.
Cutting in from the right, he exchanged passes with Pepe, chopped back on to his left foot and applied the finish the move deserved.
A tense ending beckoned.
Haaland struck to put Norway in sight of the next round but there was still work to do.
Nyland made a good save from Amad’s late free kick and the Ivory Coast kept pressing.
But Haaland had made the difference, yet again.
As a result, he became the fastest-ever player to reach 60 international goals – after just 53 games.
And Norway set up a huge last-16 clash with Brazil – which will see Haaland go head-to-head with old rival Gabriel Magalhaes – Sun.
