Brazil suffered a shocking, early exit from the 2026 World Cup after a 2-1 defeat against Norway at MetLife Stadium in their highly anticipated round-of-16 clash.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men had a golden opportunity to take an early lead in the 13th minute, but Bruno Guimaraes missed a crucial penalty. The match remained a tight, end-to-end affair with relative dominance from Brazil. Endrick missed another massive chance to break the deadlock after going clean through on goal, but his wasteful finish let Norway off the hook.
Ancelotti brought on Neymar in hopes of creating a breakthrough, but to no avail, despite the Seleção maintaining possession amid a brilliant performance by Norwegian goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland.
Haaland’s Double Sinks the Seleção
In the 80th minute, Erling Haaland stunned the Brazilians, scoring a magnificent header past goalkeeper Alisson Becker to give Norway the lead.
Over the next nine minutes, Brazil squandered three clear-cut chances to equalize. They were swiftly punished once more by Haaland, who unleashed a powerful low drive to seal the victory and crush the Samaba nation’s hopes of a comeback.
Neymar managed to convert a penalty in the 99th minute, but it proved to be a mere consolation as Brazil crashed out of the tournament early in one of the biggest World Cup upsets.
A Rare Historical Exit for Brazil
This marks only the third time in history that Brazil has been eliminated from the World Cup in the round of 16, with the only previous occurrences happening in the 1934 and 1990 editions.
With this historic triumph, Norway sets up a highly anticipated quarter-final clash at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami against the winner of the England vs. Mexico match.
