If England are to safeguard the legacy of One Night in Mexico, they cannot afford one bad tea-time in Miami. Norway, and not Brazil, brings a different kind of pressure – a burden of expectation and with it the danger of rewriting what has gone before.
Fail to get past a team ranked 31st in the world at the start of this tournament, and the Azteca will become a bittersweet anecdote when it deserves to stand as the prologue to history.
A first World Cup final on foreign soil is England’s for the taking now. Egypt have shown how to hurt probable semi-final opponents Argentina, and by attacking with direct pace that plays to the strengths of Thomas Tuchel’s side.
But first, Norway, and a game that feels like the gateway to glory or the trapdoor to regret. You can lose to Brazil in a quarter-final. You cannot lose to Norway. Do that, and all of the answers we thought we had found in Mexico will revert to questions. Questions over preparation, squad selection, logistics and tactics. We will wonder whether England have actually played well at this tournament at all.
England need to follow their epic win at the Azteca by beating Norway, ranked 31st in the world
The closer we get, the more consequential the outcome of this tie feels, and that speaks to the protection of memories already made. Not just Mexico, but Harry Kane’s double against DR Congo and Jude Bellingham’s match-saving intervention versus Panama. The past is informative.
David Platt’s volley against Belgium in the last-16 of Italia 90 is not remembered so fondly without then beating Cameroon in the last eight. The Colombia penalty shootout victory of 2018 would mean less had England lost to Sweden in the next round. There are more.
Would the 4-1 win over Netherlands at Euro 96 carry that same romantic haze if they’d gone out to Spain in the next game? The victory over Germany en route to the final of Euro 2020. Bellingham’s overhead kick versus Slovakia at the next edition.
None of the above led to a trophy, but they did lead to somewhere other than a dead-end. Then there are the graveyard goals. Alan Shearer’s header in a 1-0 win over Germany at Euro 2000. Andy Carroll’s header versus Sweden at Euro 2012. Daniel Sturridge’s stoppage-time winner against Wales at Euro 2016. Even going back further to Wayne Rooney’s group-stage heroics at Euro 2004, they are all a footnote to failure.
Teddy Sheringham scores England’s second in the 4-1 group-stage win over Netherlands at Euro 96… England kicked on and made more precious memories in that tournament
It will not feel like it now, such is the lingering glow of Bellingham’s goals, Jordan Pickford’s saves and Dan Burn’s headers on a night of high altitude and even higher drama, but lose to Norway and the fullness of that occasion will suddenly hollow if England are going home.
Football’s greatest moments have a habit of deriving their value from what comes next, and what follows now is an opportunity to shape both the recent past and the immediate future. The legend of the Azteca is not yet secure.
That alone should serve as motivation for those players who forged a bond in Mexico City, and for a head coach in Tuchel who says this was the night he truly felt like an international manager. To be around the German here is to realise his love for his players and his mission, an unashamed desire to put a second star on the jersey. He does not want this to end.
Now, he must not manage partisan crowds, reduced lung capacity or storm delays, but the psychology of expectation against an opponent whose well-drilled characteristics have proven difficult for England to overcome.
Erling Haaland – with seven goals so far – trains at Norway’s Fort Lauderdale base on Wednesday
Had this been Brazil waiting at the Hard Rock Stadium, it would have been the natural next step on this journey. Tuchel and his players have spoken throughout our time in North America of getting better against better opposition and rising to those challenges like a Formula One car moving through the gears.
They would also have been the underdog, at least in terms of World Cup pedigree, and that too would have felt like the continuation of the second half in Mexico, when England beat adversity as well as their unrelenting hosts.
They left the Azteca in survival mode, as if emerging from a battlefield far overseas. It was a victory for the grit, resilience and bloody-mindedness that this nation has always held dear.
Norway is different. It is a match-up which has England fans booking hotels and travel for the semi-final in Atlanta. Forget that Erling Haaland has just shot down Brazil, England’s firepower will be too much for Norway. Or so the theory goes. That is why this game is so dangerous.
Harry Kane is one behind Haaland with six goals at this World Cup
In the same way Panama and DR Congo presented problems for which the solution was moments of individual inspiration, Norway will combine a stubborn defence – it took Brazil until the 100th minute to score a penalty – with an attack of far greater quality than those faced already. Martin Odegaard controlled the tempo against Brazil in a way that England’s midfield have not. At least not yet.
But this is Norway we will tell ourselves, a country who have never been to a World Cup quarter-final, who did not make it out of the group at their sole European Championship and who last beat England in 1993. That loss, ironically, meant that Norway went to the last World Cup in the United States and England did not. The 2-0 defeat in Oslo is part of England infamy, forever framed by the tragicomedy of the Graham Taylor documentary, An Impossible Job.
At the Azteca, Tuchel and his players showed us what is possible in a way we have rarely seen on foreign fields. One Night in Mexico should be remembered as one of England’s ultimate World Cup highs, and not just because of the altitude.
