{"id":794478,"date":"2026-07-11T06:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T06:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/794478\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T06:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T06:47:09","slug":"world-cup-kane-vs-haaland-in-england-norway-quarterfinal-striker-battle-world-cup-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/794478\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup: Kane vs Haaland in England-Norway quarterfinal striker battle | World Cup 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

England captain Harry Kane has labelled Erling Haaland \u201ca machine\u201d but said he and Norway\u2019s \u201cbeast\u201d of a number nine are completely different players as they prepare to face off in the World Cup quarterfinal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re completely different players. I know we\u2019re both strikers, but we\u2019re in almost two different positions,\u201d Kane told his pre-match news conference on Friday.<\/p>\n

Haaland has struck seven times in his first four matches ever at a major tournament, including a devastating double to eliminate Brazil, and his goals have carried Norway into the last eight for the first time.<\/p>\n

Kane is only one goal behind the Manchester City striker for the tournament and has taken his overall World Cup record to 14 goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cErling is incredible. His goalscoring record, physically, he\u2019s a machine, he\u2019s a beast. His finishing is at the highest level, and his goalscoring record speaks for itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see myself as a different player, although I score the same goals. I like to maybe touch the ball a little bit more, be involved with the play a little bit more, but also can play as maybe the out-and-out number nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s one to compare ourselves. I respect him a lot as a player and as a professional. Obviously, I\u2019m hoping he has a quiet day tomorrow, but I think his overall performance is very good. He\u2019s a fantastic player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"(COMBO)Kane and Haaland will face off in Miami on Saturday [AFP]\u2018Amazing World Cup for strikers\u2019<\/p>\n

Despite their phenomenal goalscoring record, Haaland and Kane trail Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, who have both netted eight times in the 2026 tournament, in the battle for the Golden Boot.<\/p>\n

Kane won the prize for the World Cup\u2019s top goalscorer in 2018, but England fell short of glory as they exited in the semifinals to Croatia.<\/p>\n

Ending a 60-year wait for England to win a major tournament remains Kane\u2019s primary aim, but he is hoping to score the goals to carry the Three Lions to glory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s been an amazing World Cup on that front in terms of all the top strikers, all the top goalscorers scoring goals and affecting games. It\u2019s not always the case at these major tournaments,\u201d added the Bayern Munich striker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great competition. It puts me in a mindset to be at my very best level as much as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main goal is to win the World Cup more than another Golden Boot, but I also know I\u2019m a goalscorer, I\u2019m the number nine, so if I\u2019m scoring goals, it\u2019s obviously going to help the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kane issued a rallying cry for a huge final effort to get over the line in what could be three games in eight days to make history.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, until we win that trophy, there\u2019s always going to be that talk around England and the team, but we\u2019re in a good position. We\u2019re in a place that we wanted to be six weeks ago when we met up for prep camp,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we\u2019re in the final eight days of the final push. We\u2019re going to need everyone to be at the highest level to achieve our dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vikings ready for one more historic game<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Norway coach Stale Solbakken said the showdown between Haaland and Kane will go a long way in deciding the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s Norway versus England, but I don\u2019t think it is a secret that Kane is the match winner number one for England and Haaland is the match winner number one for us,\u201d Solbakken said at his pre-match news conference in Miami.<\/p>\n

Norway are in their first major tournament of any kind for 26 years and have exceeded expectations, most notably in their stunning 2-1 win against Brazil thanks to Haaland\u2019s late double in the last 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game has been the most important [in history] for Norwegian football, especially in the knockout rounds, so this is the third time it is the most important game,\u201d added Solbakken.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think England has more pressure than us, but we also put pressure on our performance. When the game has started, I don\u2019t think the players think so much about the pressure when it\u2019s 11 versus 11.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s progress has caught the imagination at home and across the Atlantic in the United States.<\/p>\n

Their fans\u2019 Viking row celebration has become one of the iconic images of the tournament, while Haaland\u2019s status as a global star has soared thanks to his goalscoring prowess on the pitch and jovial personality off it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the whole of Norway is looking forward to tomorrow. We\u2019ve had some great nights in this World Cup before, and it brings the country together,\u201d said Solbakken.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe this will never come back to Norway because I think we will qualify more. Every time 1783752428 we have a possibility to go through to a European Championship or a World Cup. But now it\u2019s 26 years since we had it last time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England captain Harry Kane has labelled Erling Haaland \u201ca machine\u201d but said he and Norway\u2019s \u201cbeast\u201d of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,3456,527,44,19224,457,82,772,1690,13009,13010],"class_list":["post-794478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-news","tag-norway","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}