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Norway designated home team, they've done well to get this far, but they don't look like anything much without Haaland from what I've seen. England more strings to their bow and should go through.
Kind Regards.
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eng 6 to 4 last night,shade of odds on to beat norway in possible 100 degree miami
i,m assuming on the rota it will smatterface and dixon on saturday night ? 
Small matter of revenge..
https://youtu.be/urVj1pHBMWY
..
https://youtu.be/urVj1pHBMWY
..
find it quite staggering and disappointing that the man paid by sky to come on and talk about the game bothroyd fell asleep at HT and didnt watch 2nd half live and the ex brentford player/coach who ,i,d never heard of , brought on to discuss the game,didnt watch any of it live, staggering, perfect example of why ex pro,s no less about the game ,than millions of fans
Haaland will always be a threat in any game he plays, no matter what opposition. I do think England will mark him better than Brazil (not hard) but he's used to that also - hence his goals for Man City.
I can see this being something like 2-2 going to ET and pens.
I can see this being something like 2-2 going to ET and pens.
Stopping service to Hasland will be Englands priority marking him is more difficult, I think it will be good match, looking forward to it.
100 degree heat wont matter as it's a North Sea Derby, the Norweigans wont have an advantage.
The story behind Norway’s ‘your boys took one hell of a beating’ commentary
Spoiler: Show
Spoiler: Show
Ian Whittell
Bryan Robson scores his first goal for England against Norway.
Robson put England ahead in their World Cup qualifier in Oslo but it would not be their day
On the morning of September 9, 1981, Norwegian radio commentator Bjorge Lillelien took his dog for a walk, as usual before a big assignment, clearing his head for an upcoming stint on the mic and playing scenarios through his mind. A few hours later, in Oslo, he witnessed one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history and provided his countrymen — and a world far beyond — with one of the most memorable and poignant commentaries to accompany it.
It spawned a thousand imitations — some mildly amusing, the vast majority not — but nothing, nothing compares to the sheer joie de vivre and manic intensity Lillelien encapsulated in the immediate aftermath of Norway 2 England 1.
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“Iconic,” the former England defender Phil Thompson says nearly 45 years later. “Brilliant. A legend,” says Bryan Robson, who gave England the lead that night.
Erling Haaland has propelled his team to a first major tournament since 2000 and set up a World Cup quarter-final with England. But before his exploits, the mere mention of the Norway national team meant only one thing — that evening when Lillelien’s commentary became the soundtrack for England’s struggles in their attempt to qualify for the 1982 World Cup. Decades before the internet and social media, his breathless words were picked up by newspapers and radio and TV stations all over the world.
For younger supporters, perhaps unfamiliar with it, they will almost certainly recognise the refrain: “Your boys took a hell of a beating,” even if they do not know its genesis. But, here it is:
The numerous YouTube compilations show the closing seconds of the qualifier. Terry McDermott pumps one last, hopeful long ball into the Norway area, the whistle blows and Lillelien — describing events for national radio station NRK, remember — is off.
“We are the best in the world! We are the best in the world! We have beaten England 2–1 in football! It is absolutely incredible! We have beaten England! England, the birthplace of giants. Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana — we have beaten them all. We have beaten them all.
“Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher, I have a message for you in the middle of the [Norwegian] election campaign. I have a message for you: we have knocked England out of the World Cup in football.
Bjorge Lillelien, a sports commentator, with his arm raised and fist clenched.
Lillelien was perhaps untypical for a Norwegian in that he freely showed his emotions
“Maggie Thatcher, as they say in your language in the boxing bars around Madison Square Garden in New York: your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!”
One of the many brilliant aspects of the outburst was the fact that Lillelien, a fluent English speaker after two years at university in Chicago as a young man, switched from his mother tongue just twice. The phrases “Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me?” and “Your boys took a hell of a beating” are the only ones delivered in English and, as such, have entered the British sporting vernacular.
The Norway team of 1981 was a world away from the one now in the World Cup quarter-finals. It comprised only five full-time players. “Probably second division [Championship] standard,” Thompson said.
Hence, Lillelien’s reaction. Today, Thompson and Robson still wonder how much of it was scripted. Lillelien, who sadly died of cancer just six years later at the age of 60, insisted none of it was, a theory supported today by his son Marius who, with a beautiful sense of continuity, is now the director of the same NRK national broadcaster that aired his father’s words. And it all started with the dog walk.
NRK reporter Bjorge Lillelien wearing headphones and holding a microphone.
Lillelien cleared his head for his famous commentary stint by walking his dog
“He went through different angles of the game, and just said, ‘OK, if the impossible happens and we beat England, where would I go?’” Marcus says. “He mentally went through and prepared, got himself in the mould for the game. But he definitely didn’t prepare or write them down.
“A lot of what he did was improvised, and in the heat of the moment that came to him. I think he had an idea and he was trying to express that this was a historic moment, without saying it. That’s the idea from Maggie Thatcher, to Sir Anthony Eden, and through the great British characters, Henry Cooper, try to put it in the context that this is a historical moment.
“That was an unusual idea, but that was the way he was working. And the three-hour broadcast, you can prepare for some basic things, but a lot of that has to be improvised.”
One of the reasons for Lillelien’s domestic status, even before that night, lay in the fact not all Norway matches were televised. Even those that were — like the visit of mighty England — were often interrupted for the live evening news bulletin. After Robson had given England an early lead (“a scrappy goal,” he admits, correctly), Roger Albertsen and Hallvar Thoresen put the hosts in front before the interval. Neither goal was shown live because of the news. Instead, the majority of fans were tuned into Lillelien’s radio station.
“A lot of us would watch the TV with the sound down and his commentary on the radio,” says Egil Ostenstad, the former Southampton and Blackburn Rovers striker who was in the last Norway team to play in the World Cup finals in 1998.
“What I really think that game meant was a little bit of a realisation that it’s actually possible for Norway to compete with the big countries. It was something that Norway had never done. And it’s still many, many years (13) before we qualified for the World Cup.
Norway vs England 1982 World Cup Qualifier football match.
Norway beat England 2-1 to secure comfortably the biggest win in their history at the time
“But I can see myself, making you realise it’s actually possible to beat the best teams like England. That’s an important thing in football. Maybe a little bit of mental perspective. And the commentary has been a very famous part of that game and a big part of Norwegian football in general.
“It was Bjorge. This was something that summarised his personality and the way he was as a commentator. I would say he’s a very untypical Norwegian. Norwegians in general try to be quite comfortable and not show too much emotion. Maybe that’s why he was so popular. He knew how to show emotions and this commentary proves it very well. Also, you have to say, he is proving that he is a well-read person to put all those things together which, without being prepared for it, it’s a big achievement.”
Marius Lillelien was 16 at the time of the game, perched on the roof of the commentary box at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion although, thankfully, as the full-time whistle approached, he moved down and stood outside the open door of his dad’s booth, listening to the commentary live.
“To me, it must have been ten years later, I had a job in the music industry at the time and met a Scottish group called Deacon Blue,” Marius says. “They told me that in Scottish pubs, you could sometimes hear the commentary being played.
“It became ‘viral’ but the old kind of viral, someone had taped it and played it in pubs to add to the atmosphere. That was the early Nineties and I understood it was still living out there somehow.
“It’s great and, working for NKR, I’ve been often reminded, professionally. I think it was the Observer newspaper in 2002 that chose it as the sports commentary of all time and, 15 years ago, I accepted the prize when it was voted into UNESCO’s Archive Heritage (“Memory of the World” project). My dad grew up quite modestly, his dad was a factory worker, so just a very average Norwegian background and the fact we still remember this would make him smile.”
To their credit, Thompson and Robson also smile about it warmly today when asked to recall that night and the commentary, in part because England still qualified for the 1982 finals, thanks to Switzerland and Romania unexpectedly dropping points, and Ron Greenwood’s team winning their last qualifier against the group winners Hungary.
“One of the funny things was we [Liverpool] played at West Ham the next weekend and Terry McDermott, who’d made a mistake for Norway’s second goal, was warming up and I remember the West Ham fans singing “McDermott plays for Norway!” and we were killing ourselves laughing,” Thompson says.
“But we didn’t see the funny side of that defeat at the time and it took a few years to get over it. It was quite humiliating because it reverberated around the world.”
Robson says: “We were aware of [the commentary] pretty much straight after the match. And then it was everywhere the next day. One of the Sunday newspapers printed a page with all our photos and a cross through every face, saying none of us should play for England again.”
There would be another bizarre asterisk to place next to the story once England had reached the finals in Spain and went through the group stage undefeated, Robson scoring after 27 seconds of an impressive 3-1 win over fancied France in the opening game.
But the tournament’s format meant teams advanced to a second group phase where England, after draws with Germany and Spain, exited the tournament without losing any of their five games. “It was strange to play in a competition and get knocked out without losing,” Robson says. “But at least nobody was saying we shouldn’t play for our country again!”
Bryan Robson scores his first goal for England against Norway.
Robson put England ahead in their World Cup qualifier in Oslo but it would not be their day
On the morning of September 9, 1981, Norwegian radio commentator Bjorge Lillelien took his dog for a walk, as usual before a big assignment, clearing his head for an upcoming stint on the mic and playing scenarios through his mind. A few hours later, in Oslo, he witnessed one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history and provided his countrymen — and a world far beyond — with one of the most memorable and poignant commentaries to accompany it.
It spawned a thousand imitations — some mildly amusing, the vast majority not — but nothing, nothing compares to the sheer joie de vivre and manic intensity Lillelien encapsulated in the immediate aftermath of Norway 2 England 1.
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“Iconic,” the former England defender Phil Thompson says nearly 45 years later. “Brilliant. A legend,” says Bryan Robson, who gave England the lead that night.
Erling Haaland has propelled his team to a first major tournament since 2000 and set up a World Cup quarter-final with England. But before his exploits, the mere mention of the Norway national team meant only one thing — that evening when Lillelien’s commentary became the soundtrack for England’s struggles in their attempt to qualify for the 1982 World Cup. Decades before the internet and social media, his breathless words were picked up by newspapers and radio and TV stations all over the world.
For younger supporters, perhaps unfamiliar with it, they will almost certainly recognise the refrain: “Your boys took a hell of a beating,” even if they do not know its genesis. But, here it is:
The numerous YouTube compilations show the closing seconds of the qualifier. Terry McDermott pumps one last, hopeful long ball into the Norway area, the whistle blows and Lillelien — describing events for national radio station NRK, remember — is off.
“We are the best in the world! We are the best in the world! We have beaten England 2–1 in football! It is absolutely incredible! We have beaten England! England, the birthplace of giants. Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana — we have beaten them all. We have beaten them all.
“Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher, I have a message for you in the middle of the [Norwegian] election campaign. I have a message for you: we have knocked England out of the World Cup in football.
Bjorge Lillelien, a sports commentator, with his arm raised and fist clenched.
Lillelien was perhaps untypical for a Norwegian in that he freely showed his emotions
“Maggie Thatcher, as they say in your language in the boxing bars around Madison Square Garden in New York: your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!”
One of the many brilliant aspects of the outburst was the fact that Lillelien, a fluent English speaker after two years at university in Chicago as a young man, switched from his mother tongue just twice. The phrases “Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me?” and “Your boys took a hell of a beating” are the only ones delivered in English and, as such, have entered the British sporting vernacular.
The Norway team of 1981 was a world away from the one now in the World Cup quarter-finals. It comprised only five full-time players. “Probably second division [Championship] standard,” Thompson said.
Hence, Lillelien’s reaction. Today, Thompson and Robson still wonder how much of it was scripted. Lillelien, who sadly died of cancer just six years later at the age of 60, insisted none of it was, a theory supported today by his son Marius who, with a beautiful sense of continuity, is now the director of the same NRK national broadcaster that aired his father’s words. And it all started with the dog walk.
NRK reporter Bjorge Lillelien wearing headphones and holding a microphone.
Lillelien cleared his head for his famous commentary stint by walking his dog
“He went through different angles of the game, and just said, ‘OK, if the impossible happens and we beat England, where would I go?’” Marcus says. “He mentally went through and prepared, got himself in the mould for the game. But he definitely didn’t prepare or write them down.
“A lot of what he did was improvised, and in the heat of the moment that came to him. I think he had an idea and he was trying to express that this was a historic moment, without saying it. That’s the idea from Maggie Thatcher, to Sir Anthony Eden, and through the great British characters, Henry Cooper, try to put it in the context that this is a historical moment.
“That was an unusual idea, but that was the way he was working. And the three-hour broadcast, you can prepare for some basic things, but a lot of that has to be improvised.”
One of the reasons for Lillelien’s domestic status, even before that night, lay in the fact not all Norway matches were televised. Even those that were — like the visit of mighty England — were often interrupted for the live evening news bulletin. After Robson had given England an early lead (“a scrappy goal,” he admits, correctly), Roger Albertsen and Hallvar Thoresen put the hosts in front before the interval. Neither goal was shown live because of the news. Instead, the majority of fans were tuned into Lillelien’s radio station.
“A lot of us would watch the TV with the sound down and his commentary on the radio,” says Egil Ostenstad, the former Southampton and Blackburn Rovers striker who was in the last Norway team to play in the World Cup finals in 1998.
“What I really think that game meant was a little bit of a realisation that it’s actually possible for Norway to compete with the big countries. It was something that Norway had never done. And it’s still many, many years (13) before we qualified for the World Cup.
Norway vs England 1982 World Cup Qualifier football match.
Norway beat England 2-1 to secure comfortably the biggest win in their history at the time
“But I can see myself, making you realise it’s actually possible to beat the best teams like England. That’s an important thing in football. Maybe a little bit of mental perspective. And the commentary has been a very famous part of that game and a big part of Norwegian football in general.
“It was Bjorge. This was something that summarised his personality and the way he was as a commentator. I would say he’s a very untypical Norwegian. Norwegians in general try to be quite comfortable and not show too much emotion. Maybe that’s why he was so popular. He knew how to show emotions and this commentary proves it very well. Also, you have to say, he is proving that he is a well-read person to put all those things together which, without being prepared for it, it’s a big achievement.”
Marius Lillelien was 16 at the time of the game, perched on the roof of the commentary box at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion although, thankfully, as the full-time whistle approached, he moved down and stood outside the open door of his dad’s booth, listening to the commentary live.
“To me, it must have been ten years later, I had a job in the music industry at the time and met a Scottish group called Deacon Blue,” Marius says. “They told me that in Scottish pubs, you could sometimes hear the commentary being played.
“It became ‘viral’ but the old kind of viral, someone had taped it and played it in pubs to add to the atmosphere. That was the early Nineties and I understood it was still living out there somehow.
“It’s great and, working for NKR, I’ve been often reminded, professionally. I think it was the Observer newspaper in 2002 that chose it as the sports commentary of all time and, 15 years ago, I accepted the prize when it was voted into UNESCO’s Archive Heritage (“Memory of the World” project). My dad grew up quite modestly, his dad was a factory worker, so just a very average Norwegian background and the fact we still remember this would make him smile.”
To their credit, Thompson and Robson also smile about it warmly today when asked to recall that night and the commentary, in part because England still qualified for the 1982 finals, thanks to Switzerland and Romania unexpectedly dropping points, and Ron Greenwood’s team winning their last qualifier against the group winners Hungary.
“One of the funny things was we [Liverpool] played at West Ham the next weekend and Terry McDermott, who’d made a mistake for Norway’s second goal, was warming up and I remember the West Ham fans singing “McDermott plays for Norway!” and we were killing ourselves laughing,” Thompson says.
“But we didn’t see the funny side of that defeat at the time and it took a few years to get over it. It was quite humiliating because it reverberated around the world.”
Robson says: “We were aware of [the commentary] pretty much straight after the match. And then it was everywhere the next day. One of the Sunday newspapers printed a page with all our photos and a cross through every face, saying none of us should play for England again.”
There would be another bizarre asterisk to place next to the story once England had reached the finals in Spain and went through the group stage undefeated, Robson scoring after 27 seconds of an impressive 3-1 win over fancied France in the opening game.
But the tournament’s format meant teams advanced to a second group phase where England, after draws with Germany and Spain, exited the tournament without losing any of their five games. “It was strange to play in a competition and get knocked out without losing,” Robson says. “But at least nobody was saying we shouldn’t play for our country again!”
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