By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Sports Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Erling Haaland scored the deciding goal in the 86th minute and Norway won a knockout game at the World Cup for the first time, advancing to the round of 16 with a 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast on Tuesday.
Three defenders converged on Patrick Berg as he moved into the penalty area with the ball. He kicked it over to a wide-open Haaland, who scored his fifth goal in three games at this year’s tournament.
Antonio Nusa scored in the first half with a curling kick for Norway, which is in its fourth World Cup and will next play five-time champion Brazil in the round of 16 on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The match comes 28 years after what many considered the greatest win ever for the Norwegians against Brazil.
Norway is playing in its first World Cup since that 1998 appearance, when the team got to the knockout round only after scoring goals in the 83rd and 89th minutes for an incredible 2-1 comeback win over then-reigning World Cup champion Brazil in the group finale.
Amad Diallo, who had kept Norway from taking a two-goal lead earlier in the second half, evened the match for Ivory Coast with a left-footed kick in the 74th minute.
After Haaland’s goal, his Norway-record 60th in 53 matches, Ivory Coast kept pressing and had a chance to equalize with a direct free kick by Diallo in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Orjan Nyland made a leaping stop, the last of his four saves, when he deflected the ball away as he extended his left hand across his body.
Haaland, who won the Golden Boot in the Premier League last season with 27 goals for Manchester City, has scored in 13 straight competitive international games — a total of 25 goals in that span.
The Elephants, ranked 31st by FIFA, had never before won twice in the same World Cup. This was the fourth World Cup appearance for the West African nation, the same as Norway.
Nusa scored his first World Cup goal in the 39th minute when he took a few strides past the left corner of the area and sent a right-footed kick between two defenders toward the far post.
Ivory Coast goalkeeper Yahia Fofana made a diving attempt at the ball that was just beyond his extended reach, and he was still in air when he turned his head back to see the ball curl into the net. It was Nusa’s ninth international in 28 games for Norway.
Diallo evened the score at 1-1 after a give-and-go with Nicolas Pepe, who scored both Ivory Coast goals in its previous game and was stopped by Nyland in the 55th minute. Diallo found space in the area for his left-footed blast.
That came only about eight minutes after Torbjorn Heggen had a shot for Norway that was deflected away by Diallo, who was right next to his keeper.
Ivory Coast had one more good scoring chance before halftime after Nusa drew a yellow card in stoppage time. Pepe took the free kick but the ensuing header inside went left of the post.
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