People of Sheffield on the England vs Norway World Cup clash and if Three Lions can make last four
Sheffield football fans share their predictions ahead of England’s highly-anticipated showdown with Norway
Fighting for the right to secure a place in the semi-final of the World Cup, England cross paths with Norway at the Hard Rock Stadium in what has the potential to be a riveting evening of football and a memorable night out in the bars of Sheffield for those choosing to enjoy the occasion with friends and family.
The Three Lions laughed in the face of adversity last time out, defeating co-hosts 3-2 Mexico with 10-men in high-altitude, to treat their fans to arguably their greatest ever night on foreign soil.
However, as they look to build on that momentum, they face the unenviable task of silencing arguably one of the most formidable finishers in world football in the form of Erling Haaland, who’s been in irresistible form with seven goals from four matches at this tournament.
England have plenty of quality of their own in the final third in both Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, but may have to make do without a series of key defensive options such as the injured Reece James, the suspended Jarell Quansah and perhaps even Marc Guehi, who is the most recent to emerge as a doubt for the game.
Thomas Tuchel’s side should have the capabilities of reaching the last four and will be wary of the threat posed by this tournament’s darkhorses.
With that in mind, we decided to ask Sheffielders to share their match predictions for the World Cup quarter-final and it’s fair to say that there’s mixed emotions heading into Saturday night’s clash.
Eric Cantona (not the former Manchester United forward we suspect) started the discussion with positivity by backing the Three Lions to win 2-1 with ‘King Harry Kane’ firing the team to victory.
Kane has scored six in five matches at this tournament and is England’s highest goalscorer in World Cup history ahead of Gary Lineker.
Ros Hoyle backed the Three Lions to secure a 3-1 win, while Rachael Fairhurst predicted a 2-1 victory but mentioned that it would be a tough match.
Lisa Pepperdine, Peter Mills, Danny Simmons, Jimmy May and Lynn Gibson were all on a similar wavelength backing the Three Lions to secure a 2-1 victory to clinch their place in the semi-final.
However, not everyone backed England to get the job done with others sharing their fears about Haaland crashing the party.
Grump Tomas said: “2-1 Norway. “Haaland both goals and Bellingham scoring for England.”
Sally Fisher added: “A 3-2 win on Norway.”
Katie Murray said: “I think Norway win 2-1.”
Andy Wildman believes England will prevail on penalties following a 1-1 draw. The Three Lions overcame Switzerland on penalties to progress to the last four of Euro 2024, marking the third time in history that the team had won on penalties at a major tournament after seven heartbreaking losses from 12 yards in major tournaments, with the most recent coming against Italy in the final of Euro 2020.
Three Lions supporters after a nervy finish against Mexico will hope the team can get the job done in 90 minutes as they look to progress to the semi-final of a World Cup on foreign soil for just the third time after Italia 90 and Russia in 2018.
England’s match with Norway is scheduled to kick-off at 10pm BST although there is a slight chance that adverse weather conditions could lead to a delay as we saw against Mexico on Monday morning.