Norway coach Stale Solbakken hailed his team’s World Cup round-of-16 win over Brazil as the greatest night in the country’s football history.

“This is way above 1998 (Norway beat Brazil 2-1 in the World Cup group stage) because this was a knockout game,” he said after Norway’s 2-1 win in New Jersey, a result that sent the Scandinavians into the last eight and left Brazil heading home. “On the greatest night of Norway football history, I am proud everyone was calm and composed.”

Norway’s coach said the victory was as much about the spirit of his squad as the tactical execution. “This is a great group and they love being together,” he said. “They help each other and protect each other. We have the opportunity to let people be themselves and let them say what they want and that’s important when it goes well and even when it doesn’t go well.”

That sense of momentum, he suggested, had spread far beyond the dressing room. “The whole nation is rowing together, and we are having a great party here in all cities,” he said. “It’s a great summer to be a fan of Norway. Better to be a fan than a coach!”

Norway’s approach against Brazil was deliberate. Rather than turn the game into a frantic transition battle, the plan was to keep the ball, slow the tempo and wear Brazil down until spaces opened. “It was our plan to keep the ball and we wanted slow build-up,” he said. “We wanted to win by keeping possession of the ball and having long-lasting attacks and waiting for the right opening.”

‘Tactical substitution’

Oscar Bobb and Andreas Schjelderup were introduced in the second half to do just that. “Oscar and Andreas are best with keeping possession. We had to keep the ball and wear Brazil down and play and play and tire Brazil and then go for the kill,” he said. “Alex (Alexander Sorloth) and (Antonio) Nusa were not bad, but it was a tactical substitution,” he said. “You have to follow your gut feeling sometimes. The ending 11 might be as important as the starting 11.”

He also felt Norway had needed every ounce of that control to survive Brazil’s late push. “I thought he had an X-factor when Neymar came in and he showed that one or two times,” Solbakken said. “But I thought it was also a gamble, because both he and Vini (Vinicius Junior) are not good defensively and it was a chess game.”

The coach reserved special praise for Erling Haaland, whose second-half double settled the contest. “Haaland is the best goalscorer,” he said. “He was very active and held on to the long balls and it was difficult for the centre-backs to deal with him”.