Alan Shearer is feeling confident ahead of England’s World Cup quarter-final with Norway, not only predicting the result, but who will score the goals.
After the Three Lions downed Mexico at the Azteca and Norway beat Brazil in New Jersey, the teams head to Miami to battle it out for a place in the last four.
Thomas Tuchel’s team is the favourite with the bookmakers, but Norway boast the extremely concerning threat of Erling Haaland, who has scored seven times already at the World Cup.
However, Shearer points out that England captain Harry Kane is an equally big worry to the opposition and much will come down to how the two strikers are handled.
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Speaking to Betfair, Shearer said: ‘That’s the big question on Saturday; how do we nullify Haaland. I mean, Haaland to Norway is what Kane is to England. So, they’ll be asking the same question. How did they stop Harry Kane? Because they’ll feel if they stop him, they’ve got a much better chance of winning and vice versa with Haaland. It’s easier said than done.’
However, the Newcastle legend feels if England can replicate the same kind of display they produced against Mexico, they will progress.
He reckons Kane will get on the scoresheet and so will Anthony Gordon, who impressed in that famous 3-2 victory at the Azteca.
‘I think the performance the other night was what everyone’s been waiting for,’ Shearer continued. ‘And I think that’s given everyone belief that we can go forward and that we’ve got a team.
‘With Tuchel’s know-how and his knowledge it feels that we can actually do something special. I’m not thinking that England are going out. I’ve got real big confidence that England can get through to the semi-final and beat Norway.
‘I mean, if you said before the tournament we’re going to have a World Cup quarterfinal against Norway you would say absolutely thank you very much give us it let’s get on with it lets hit it head on and I don’t see any reason for us not to get to a semi-final.
‘I think it’s not going to be easy it’ll be tough and there’ll be times where we’ll have to suffer because they’re a good team. But I go back to my point, if someone said before the tournament, you’re going to be playing Norway in the quarterfinal of the World Cup, you’d have snapped their hands off for that.
‘I’m going for a 2-1 win against Norway and I’m going for Anthony Gordon and I’m going for Harry Kane to get our goals.’
Shearer is backing all four favourites in the quarter-finals to progress and produce a heavyweight line-up in the semis.
France take on Morocco on Thursday night before Spain face Belgium on Friday and Argentina play Switzerland after the England game on Saturday.
‘So, I’m going for a Spain v France semi-final and an England v Argentina semi-final,’ he said. ‘Two unbelievable semi-finals. But I think I’m right in saying, that pre-draw, the top four in the world are seeded if they win the top of the group. And the first time they could have met would have been the semi-final. And that’s what may happen.’