FIFA / FIFA

Narrow but exciting wins for England, France and Norway over their Pan-American opponents, Mexico, Paraguay and Brazil, have once again revived the fight for supremacy in global soccer.

After Canada, Mexico became the second co-host to fall at the round of 16 hurdle. Earlier, Canada had lost 0-3 to Morocco. Mexico was unlucky not to score in the last 15 minutes of its blitzkrieg as the English fell back to defend their citadel stoutly.

Led by Kylian Mbappe, France got the all-important goal through a penalty midway through the second half. It was Mbappe who made no mistake with the penalty for his seventh goal of the tournament. With this goal, he has joined Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Erling Haaland (Norway) as the top scorers so far. They all have seven goals each and are in the running for the Golden Boot award.

In the game against one of the three co-hosts, Mexico, it was Bellingham who, with his quickest brace of the tournament so far, put England in a comfortable 2-0 lead by the 38th minute. However, this lead was short-lived as Quinones reduced the margin in the 42nd minute to the great applause of the local crowd at Mexico City Stadium. Afterwards, it turned out to be a battle of penalties. First, Harry Kane made no mistake with the penalty, and then it was he who was held the culprit that allowed Mexico to respond in kind.

After conceding the second goal, England fell back to defend the lead as skipper Kane went off. Playing in the rain, the Mexicans went all out and attacked their opponents' citadel with all their might. At times, the only player in the Mexican half was their goalkeeper, who would pick up stray balls and kick them back into England’s half. Even the goalkeeper joined the attack when the Mexicans forced a corner in the dying moments of the game. The English players must have heaved a sigh of relief at the final whistle after struggling hard to prevent Mexico from getting the much-deserved equalizer.

Skipper Harry Kane made no mistake with the penalty awarded to England in the 60th minute to make the score 3-1. And it was Kane who was punished for an intentional foul that led to the award of a penalty after a VAR review. Raul Jimenez was calm with a neat kick that beat the English custodian all ends up to make the score 3-2 in the 69th minute.

Norway’s win over Brazil was masterminded by Erling Haaland, who returned to form in the second half and scored twice, first with a header and then with a power-packed angled kick that put the Norwegians ahead, though substitute Neymar reduced the margin in stoppage time (90+10).

Brazil had its chances, including a penalty, but failed to make use of them. It was the Norwegian goalkeeper, Orjan Nyland, who executed several brilliant saves, including one on a penalty kick taken by Bruno Guimarães.

Erling Haaland scored with a header for the go-ahead goal in the 80th minute and scored again before the end of regulation, carrying Norway into the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time with a 2-1 victory over Brazil on Sunday that showcased the towering striker on soccer's biggest stage.

After being a mere messenger for much of the afternoon and having limited touches, Haaland turned it on when it mattered most, getting the right side of his head on the ball after a perfect setup by Andreas Schjelderup, who entered at halftime. Schjelderup jumped on Haaland's back to celebrate the 6-foot-5 striker scoring his sixth goal at the World Cup and did so again after assisting on his seventh, tying Argentina's Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe of France for the most in the tournament.

Haaland extended his scoring streak to 14 consecutive competitive international matches. He has 27 goals in that stretch and 62 in 54 appearances for Norway.

At the other end, goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland was stellar. He made a crucial stop early, diving to his left to deny Bruno Guimarães' penalty kick in the 14th minute, then got his left hand on a shot by Endrick late when Norway was hanging on to a one-goal lead.

The only goal Nyland allowed was a Neymar penalty kick late in stoppage time, which changed only the final score.

Nyland, who at 35 is his team's oldest player, was a huge factor in a historic victory that ranks among the most significant in the country's history, at least on the men's side. Norway's women's team won the World Cup in 1995, but the men have qualified only four times and not since 1998. They had not advanced beyond the round of 16.

Norway now faces England in the quarterfinals.

Guimarães became the first Brazil player not to score on a World Cup penalty kick since Zico in 1986.

There were plenty of other missed opportunities, including Casemiro missing Neymar on a crossing attempt that could have been the tying goal.

Brazil goes home having massively underachieved expectations that were essentially win or bust for the five-time World Cup champions. The global powerhouse had its streak of quarterfinal appearances at the tournament end at eight, losing before that stage for the first time since 1990.

It was Brazil’s seventh consecutive loss to European opponents at the World Cup, dating to its victory over Germany in the 2002 final. The absence of injured midfielder Lucas Paquetá did not help, even though Gabriel Martinelli showed off his speed at times after being coach Carlo Ancelotti’s choice for the starting lineup.

Norway got defender Julian Ryerson back from the injury that sidelined him for the past two games, and coach Ståle Solbakken was rewarded for making changes at halftime, with Schjelderup setting up each of Haaland’s goals.

Those moves played a role in the upset, though this one was not nearly as massive as the group-stage shock in 1998. Norway showed how much it had evolved as a soccer nation since then, with knocking off Brazil the latest step in that process.