Former England goalkeeper David Seaman has confidently backed the Three Lions to handle the 'outside pressure' and defeat Norway in the World Cup quarter-final, provided they adopt a positive mindset and play their natural game.
England's path to the quarter-finals
England secured their spot in the final eight with a dramatic victory over co-hosts Mexico at the iconic Azteca Stadium. Despite being reduced to ten men after Jarell Quansah's red card, Thomas Tuchel's side delivered one of their greatest World Cup performances. Jude Bellingham scored twice, and Harry Kane added a penalty to seal a 3-2 win, withstanding a late barrage of Mexican attacks.
Norway's threat and Haaland's form
Norway, one of the tournament's dark horses, advanced by stunning Brazil in the last 16. Erling Haaland has been in sensational form, scoring seven goals in four matches, including a brace against Brazil. Only Lionel Messi has outscored the Manchester City striker at this stage. The quarter-final will be played at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, with kick-off at 10pm BST.
Seaman's analysis and prediction
Speaking on The Inside Channel Podcast, Seaman, capped 75 times by England, dismissed concerns about Norway's quality. 'When you look at it, you look at the Mexico game which, out of that and Norway, that's going to be the harder game and we dealt with that quite well,' he said. 'The Norway game, there's a lot of expectation because we are better than Norway, there's no doubt about it, man to man, apart from striker-ish, but then we've got Harry Kane.'
Seaman emphasized that England should focus on their own performance rather than external expectations. 'The expectation will be for us to win but the lads won't be thinking like that. That's an outside pressure that the lads can deal with in their way, they have to go out and play. If we play our game and we play well, we win.'
Praise for Jordan Pickford
Seaman also praised goalkeeper Jordan Pickford for his 'fantastic' display against Mexico, calling it his best performance for England. 'Not just his saves… his saves were great, they were executed perfectly, but the way he dominated his box is something I've not seen him do like that before especially under that pressure,' Seaman said. 'It's so great for the defence when he's coming out and punching it clear. He was getting a lot of distance on his punches as well.'
The winner of England vs Norway will face either Argentina or Switzerland in the semi-finals.
