Erling Haaland scored two late goals to send Norway through to their first World Cup quarterfinal with a stunning 2-1 win over Brazil, which condemned the five-time champions to their earliest exit since 1990.

Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland produced a sensational display on Sunday and saved a first-half penalty from Bruno Guimaraes before Haaland struck twice in the last 11 minutes to stun Brazil at New York New Jersey Stadium.

Neymar pulled a goal back deep into stoppage time with Brazil’s second spot kick of the match.

Haaland’s brace took him level with Lionel Messi on seven goals for the tournament as Norway booked a showdown against England in Miami on July 11.

For Brazil, who hired Carlo Ancelotti in a bid to end a 24-year World Cup drought, it is the sixth straight tournament they have been knocked out by European opposition.

The last time Brazil failed to reach at least the quarterfinals came 36 years ago, when they lost 1-0 to archrivals Argentina in the last 16.

Gabriel Martinelli was rewarded for scoring the stoppage-time winner against Japan in the previous round, as the Arsenal winger replaced the injured Lucas Paqueta in the lone change to Brazil’s lineup.

Norway were boosted by the return of Julian Ryerson, the Borussia Dortmund defender fit again after missing the past two games with a thigh injury.

Patrick Berg thought he had given Norway the lead inside three minutes, but his effort was ruled out for offside in the build-up.

After a rocky start, Brazil won a penalty when Kristoffer Ajer clattered into Matheus Cunha in the box.

The Brazilians were left furious as referee Ismail Elfath initially waved away their appeals, but VAR intervened, and the decision was overturned.

Guimaraes stepped up, but Nyland guessed correctly, diving low to his left to push away the Newcastle midfielder’s tame penalty.

Nyland again came to Norway’s rescue, getting a crucial touch to Martinelli’s low drive as it flashed across goal, denying Guimaraes a simple tap-in.

When Martin Odegaard lost possession on the edge of his own box, Nyland once more saved Norway as he stuck out a leg to thwart Vinicius Junior.

Haaland had struggled to make a significant impact, but his strength created a glorious opening for Norway before half-time.

The striker caused problems for Gabriel Magalhaes and Marquinhos in the Brazil defence before the ball broke kindly for Odegaard, whose effort was well saved by Alisson.

Norway coach Stale Solbakken brought on Oscar Bobb and Andreas Schjelderup at the break for Antonio Nusa and Alexander Sorloth, but it was the introduction of Endrick that almost changed the game immediately.

Vinicius Junior slipped Endrick through on goal with a delightful outside-of-the-foot pass, only for the teenager to dink wide as Nyland came out to close him down.

Nyland continued to frustrate Brazil, producing a good save to claw away Rayan’s fierce strike before making another outstanding stop to deny Guimaraes, although the offside flag went up.

The arrival of Neymar in the 67th minute drew huge roars from the largely pro-Brazil crowd.

It was Norway who eventually broke the deadlock, though, and it came through an inevitable source.

Schjelderup whipped in a cross from the left and soared above Gabriel to power a header into the corner.

As Brazil desperately chased an equaliser, an incredible fingertip save from a back-pedalling Nyland prevented Ajer from looping the ball into his own net.

Haaland gave Norway breathing space as he hammered low into the corner from the edge of the box in the 90th minute.

It proved vital when Neymar converted a penalty in the 10th minute of stoppage time, preceded by an unseemly spat with Nyland, following an elbow on Casemiro.

Source: Aljazeera

America turns 250 on Saturday — a landmark birthday that coincides with a time of deep national division and a president determined to seize the festive center stage.

The independence anniversary also comes in the middle of a brutal heatwave that has placed some 160 million Americans under major or extreme heat warnings, playing havoc with planned parades and block parties in towns and cities across much of the country.

But the searing temperatures have done little to deter President Donald Trump, who has gone to great lengths to ensure the event becomes, in large part, a celebration of himself.

On Saturday evening, Trump will hold a huge campaign-style political rally on the National Mall in the capital, Washington, along with roaring military flyovers and what he has touted as the world’s biggest fireworks display.

“It’s going to be approximately 107 degrees (41C) out, and I’m going to go, and I’m going to make a really long speech — just to show that I can do anything,” he earlier said.

Late Friday, the president visited the Mount Rushmore National Monument for an address under the gaze of the giant granite heads of four of his legendary predecessors.

While he lauded American exceptionalism and praised the country’s past leaders, he said that the American identity was “under a renewed attack.”

Taking aim at domestic “radicals and extremists,” he charged that there was “a resurgence of the communist menace in our land.”

It is a theme that Trump has repeatedly hammered home in recent weeks, as the anti-establishment left of the Democratic Party carried a string of US primary victories.

The president has cast the rise of the left ahead of November’s midterm elections as “communists” on the rampage, posing a major “threat” to the country.

On Friday, Trump said there has been an attempt to “beat the American spirit out of us, alienate us from our history” in recent years.

While his language fell short of the more violent anti-immigrant rhetoric he has wielded in past speeches, the underlying message was clear.

“You do not have to be born here, but you do have to love what we have built,” he said.

The location of Trump’s speech was a fitting backdrop for a president who views himself as one of the greats.

Trump’s supporters have even introduced legislation to have his likeness chiseled beside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

For Americans, the 250th festivities offer a moment for reflection as well as celebration.

After two and a half centuries of triumphs and tragedies, slavery and freedom, civil war and world wars, multiple surveys indicate a nation divided about where it is and where it’s going.

A Quinnipiac University Poll showed 61 percent of Americans thought the US was not living up to the ideals stated in the Declaration of Independence — though even opinion on that was divided, with most Republicans thinking it did, and most Democrats thinking it didn’t.

“There’s too many people that hate on each other, steal from each other. They don’t love each other,” said Los Angeles-based artist Johnny Presley.

“I’m sick of the way this country treats people. I’m sick of the way this country treats its foreign neighbors,” he added. “I’m sick of a lot of damn things.”

For others, like American-Iranian Karisa Tavassoli, an educator in Atlanta, the basics of the American dream still ring true.

“I have safety, I have freedom of speech, I have freedom of religion, I can wear whatever I want as a woman,” she told AFP.

“There are many flaws here, but we have something very special that’s worthy of protecting,” she added.

Alonzo Coby, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, is grateful to be able to celebrate 250 years of the United States.

“But I want people to remember that Native Americans have been here a lot longer than 250 years,” he said.

AFP

The United Nations World Food Programme has warned that conflict in northern Nigeria, together with shrinking humanitarian assistance, is driving a food crisis to levels not seen in nearly a decade.

It said recent data showed that more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected states are experiencing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of hunger.

“Across all of northern Nigeria we have been seeing an increase and spread in insurgent attacks and violence,” said Serigne Loum, WFP’s Deputy Country Director in Nigeria.

“Families are being forced from their home and it’s getting harder for WFP to access people who urgently need food assistance,” he said.

Nigeria has been battling a jihadist insurgency centred in the north-east since 2009, with a resurgence in violence since 2025.

Jihadists have also been expanding into the north-west, which is already facing a separate, overlapping crisis from armed “bandit” gangs.

The WFP said the expanding conflict is forcing more people from farmland, driving displacement, and restricting humanitarian access.

Aid cuts under US President Donald Trump and other western countries have hit some of Nigeria’s poorest households in recent years.

Habiba, a displaced mother with a young baby in Borno States, said sometimes they do not get food “for two nights” while occasionally they get only one meal.

“And when children keep going hungry, it’s hard to be with them awake with nothing. That’s how I gave birth to this baby, in this situation of total lack,” she said.

The WFP said that, at the same time, the number of locations inaccessible to its frontline staff has doubled while cargo movements along major routes are increasingly disrupted by attacks and illegal checkpoints.

It said the suspension of food assistance is driving people towards desperate coping strategies, including cases of individuals joining armed groups in search of food or income.

In some camps, the lack of food aid due to funding shortfalls has triggered an alarming escalation in exploitation and gender-based harm that is particularly impacting women and children.

The WFP said it needs $89 million over the next six months to continue food and nutrition assistance across northern Nigeria before hunger deepens further.