Anger prevailed in the Norwegian national team as they believed the ball hit the camera suspended above the pitch, directly leading to England's equalizer during the World Cup quarterfinal match at Hard Rock Stadium.

It appeared that the goal kick taken by goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland hit the camera suspended by wires above the pitch before the ball fell in front of Elliot Anderson, who passed it to Anthony Gordon, who in turn passed it to Jude Bellingham to score the equalizer, making it 1-1.

The equalizer came in first-half stoppage time, with Norway coach Ståle Solbakken clearly upset with referee Clément Turpin at halftime. Nyland also pointed upward toward the camera in protest, as did Erling Haaland.

Norway assistant coach Kent Bergersen told TV2 at halftime: 'Right before the goal, the ball hit the wire holding the camera, causing it to change trajectory and fall shorter than intended. The referee should have noticed it. There's nothing we can do now. We just have to be patient and move on.'

Despite Norway's protests, FIFA stated that the chip technology inside the ball 'did not indicate that the ball touched anything in the air, and there was no touch detected in the sensor data.'

The laws of the game state that if a 'foreign object' interferes with play, the referee must stop play and resume with a dropped ball only if it impedes the progress of the match.

If referee Clément Turpin had seen the ball hit the suspended camera, he should have stopped play and resumed with a dropped ball. VAR Jérôme Brisard did not intervene because he did not consider it a 'clear and obvious error.'

Former Premier League referee Graham Scott told The Athletic: 'Theoretically, you could say there was outside interference, meaning play should have been resumed with a dropped ball. But practically, there must be evidence of a collision. You would allow play to continue if the ball hits a paper cup or a small piece of debris on the field if it doesn't affect the game.'

He added: 'It's hard to be sure here, but in any case, I think it's unlikely that the VAR would even consider checking the overhead camera angle when reviewing the attacking phase.'

After England's win, Alfie Haaland wrote: 'Well done Bellingham and well done referee,' in response to a post about Jude's performance in the tournament.

Norway captain Martin Ødegaard said: 'I didn't see the incident myself, but we certainly didn't have the luxury of making mistakes. You might need that in matches like these. It's unfortunate.'

England coach Thomas Tuchel said: 'There's a chip in the ball, I'm not familiar with that, I didn't see anything.'

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