Live coverage and text updates as Brazil play Norway in the round of 16 knockout stage.
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The Norwegians have never lost to Brazil, recording two wins and two draws in their four previous meetings.
Solbakken joked that Norway had been careful not to schedule friendlies against the Selecao in recent years to preserve that rare unbeaten record.
“You don’t play a team like Brazil very often at all. And it’s right what you say, that they haven’t in the history of the Brazil and Norway history, Brazil haven’t won,” he said.
“But we haven’t played that many games. And we have avoided to play you because we’re allowed to have that statistic.
“So we have said no to all friendlies the last 20 years to avoid playing against Brazil. But now we have to face you.”
Solbakken, though, is aware that Norway will likely have to weather spells of sustained pressure from a Brazil attack led by Vinicius Junior.
“We are a team that can’t wait for Brazil, because we are an offensive-minded team,” said Solbakken.
“But during 90 minutes or 120 minutes against Brazil, you need to defend for longer or shorter periods, and then we have to be at our best there. Otherwise, they will score.”
Norway have won three of their four matches, with their lone defeat coming while rotating their squad against France having already secured their place in the last 32.
Erling Haaland has scored five goals in three matches at the tournament, including a late winner against Ivory Coast that secured Norway’s first victory in a World Cup knockout game.
But while Brazil are synonymous globally with attacking football, Haaland may face the most formidable defensive duo he has seen so far in centre backs Gabriel Magalhaes and Marquinhos.
“I think that Brazil has one of the greatest partnerships in the central defence in this World Cup,” Solbakken said.
“But it’s, for me, more about Brazil against Norway and not those two against Haaland.”
For Norway, the match also will be arguably the biggest in the Nordic nation’s footballing history – at least since they last faced Brazil at that 1998 tournament and earned a 2-1 victory in the group finale to book their place in the last 16.
That version of Brazil entered as tournament favourites and rotated their squad after clinching their place in the knockouts.
This one is seen by some as eminently beatable, presenting Norway a chance to make national history with a first quarterfinal appearance.
“We need to play the match, not the circumstances,” Norway manager Stale Solbakken said.
“We need to make sure that we don’t play according to the occasion but that we simply play the match.”
He added: “Obviously, Brazil is the favourite, but I also said that I don’t think they are big favourites, which they maybe had been some years ago, or two, three, four years ago.
“Now we have had a very good run for a very long time, and we have great confidence.”
Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes said the key will be denying Haaland the service he needs to decide the match.
“We have to try to prevent the ball from reaching him,” Guimaraes said.
“We will be attacking, but there always has to be someone glued to him, so we don’t give him space because we know that with just one ball he can decide a match.”
Guimaraes expected Norway to target Brazil from set pieces in what he described as a potentially cagey contest.
“They will put a lot of balls into our box, and at every corner or free kick, they will give everything to try to score,” he said.
“We trained a lot during the week to neutralise their strengths. It is going to be a very difficult match.”
Norway pose a formidable threat through Haaland, whose pace and power have made him one of the tournament’s most feared forwards.
“Everyone knows Haaland,” Ancelotti said. “I don’t have to explain to my defenders how Haaland plays. They know him better than I do because they have played against him many times.
“We are focused on preparing well for the match, obviously including Haaland’s characteristics, which we must take into account because he is a very, very dangerous forward.”
Ancelotti said the prospect of knockout football always brought concern, but insisted his players were ready.
“I am worried, as usual,” he said. “But worried does not mean anxious. I am confident. We improved, and I hope we can improve again tomorrow.”
Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti says Raphinha is ready to play a part in the clash with Norway after returning from injury but acknowledges his side will have to find a different solution to replace the injured Lucas Paqueta.
Raphinha returned to training on Friday after two weeks out with a hamstring injury sustained during Brazil’s group-stage win over Haiti. The forward is not ready to start, Ancelotti said, but could feature from the bench.
“Raphinha is progressing very well,” Ancelotti told reporters on Saturday. “He is still not at 100 percent, but he is available to be on the bench and to be able to play a few minutes or be useful at certain moments.
“He recovered very well and very quickly. We are very happy with this because Raphinha is a very, very important player for the team.”
Brazil will be without Paqueta after the midfielder suffered a hamstring strain in their 2-1 win over Japan in the previous round, leaving Ancelotti to reshuffle his midfield.
“We don’t have a player in the squad with Lucas Paqueta’s quality, so we have to replace him with another player,” Ancelotti said. “The characteristics are different. Danilo is different from Gabriel, who is different from Matheus Cunha and Ederson.
“I will choose the player based on our game plan, obviously taking into account the strength of the opponent but also what is functional to the idea we want to implement tomorrow.”
Right-back Julian Ryerson is out with a thigh injury.
Predicted starting XI:
(4-3-3): Nyland (goalkeeper); Pedersen, Ajer, Heggem, Moller Wolfe; Odegaard, Berge, Berg; Sorloth, Haaland, Nusa
Lucas Paqueta picked up a hamstring injury in the last game, while Raphinha, who also picked up the same problem in the second game, has resumed individual training and could make the bench.
Predicted starting XI:
(4-3-3): Alisson (goalkeeper); Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel, Santos; Guimaraes, Casemiro, Martinelli; Rayan, Cunha, Vinicius
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s live coverage of Brazil vs Norway in the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup.
Two of the world’s most exciting forwards, Vinicius Jr and Erling Haaland, will light up this evening in New Jersey when Brazil face Norway in a blockbuster clash.
For all their dominance on the world stage, Brazil have historically struggled to find a way past Norway and after four failed attempts the Selecao will hope the fifth time is the charm.
Carlo Ancelotti’s talented side has its fair share of flaws, and having narrowly escaped elimination in the last 32 against Japan, they need an improved performance against Norway – one of the dark horses at this tournament.
Spearheaded by Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard, Norway arrive with bragging rights: they are one of only three countries Brazil have faced at a World Cup without registering at least one victory.
Either England or cohosts Mexico await the winner in the quarterfinals.
I’m Patrick Keddie and I’ll bring you all the pre-match build-up, analysis and photo coverage of the game.
Alex Hoad will provide the team news as soon as the lineups are announced and will take you through the minute-by-minute live commentary.
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