EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey: Erling Haaland may have scored the goals but it was Norway’s out-of-contract goalkeeper Orjan Nyland who laid the foundations for their side’s stunning 2-1 over Brazil on Sunday, saving a penalty in a World Cup last-16 game he probably would have started on the bench if it was not for a FIFA decision over another player’s eligibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bodo\/Glimt keeper Nikita Haikin has been tearing it up between the sticks for the past couple of seasons and when he was granted a Norwegian passport this year, the writing looked to be on the wall for 35-year-old journeyman Nyland, whose contract with Spanish club Sevilla ran out after this past season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, in May FIFA turned down Israeli-born Haikin’s request to switch his international allegiance from Russia, where he played two games at Under-21 level, to Norway due to residency rule requirements, opening the door for Nyland’s spectacular display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He saved an early penalty from Bruno Guimaraes, and from there he grew into the game, thwarting Vinicius Jr. and Emerick and preventing what would have been a spectacular own goal from Kristoffer Ajer, flinging himself backwards to touch the ball onto the far post and away to safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ON THE BENCH<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coming into the World Cup on the back of a season with Sevilla in which he was often on the bench, few would have believed Nyland capable of such heroics, but when his country called he answered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s great to be here in the World Cup, in the most important match in my life, and I just have to thank everyone who has been there for me – my wife Tine, who has been helping me when I need it the most, and my three fantastic kids, who have been there too, on both the uphills and downhills, and the rest of the family,” he told reporters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nyland finished the game in a verbal spat with Neymar after Brazil were awarded a late penalty, and though the Brazilian scored from the spot, the goalkeeper had the last laugh when the final whistle went moments later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The keeper revealed that he had not received any offers from other clubs but that he intended to continue his career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“No, I’ve not checked my phone – now I’m going to join the doping control, that’s the boring stuff that I have to do first, and then obviously I’m going to enjoy this moment. It’s been the most important game of my career,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Norway will meet Mexico or England in the quarter-finals in Miami on Saturday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey: Erling Haaland may have scored the goals but it was Norway’s out-of-contract goalkeeper Orjan Nyland who laid the foundations for their side’s stunning 2-1 over Brazil on Sunday, saving a penalty in a World Cup last-16 game he probably would have started on the bench if it was not for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418992,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418991\/revisions\/418992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}