Jude Bellingham's Equalizer Against Norway Should Have Been Disallowed—Here's Why It Cost England a World Cup Controversy

Harry Kane and England unconvincingly protested a foul in the build-up to Norway's opening goal in Saturday's World Cup quarterfinal, yet it appears the Scandinavian side were actually the ones wronged during the first half.

There was nothing amiss with Jude Bellingham's superb solo run, as he collected Anthony Gordon's low cutback along the edge of the area, danced past Torbjørn Heggem, and slotted into the bottom corner.

The controversy, however, stemmed from Ørjan Nyland's goal kick just moments before. The long punt dropped unexpectedly short, enabling Elliot Anderson to gather possession and trigger the sequence of play that culminated in Bellingham's strike. As Nyland and Norway head coach Ståle Solbakken loudly protested to the officials, the ball appeared to make contact with the spidercam wire suspended overhead.

On the play that led to England's equalizer, the ball hit the FIFA sky cam before the goal. pic.twitter.com/QZgYSVcSpK

The spidercam is not considered part of the playing surface. While the ball may strike the posts, crossbars, or corner flags and remain "in play," this overhead camera equipment does not fall under the same rule. Contact with the spidercam is treated similarly to the ball hitting the referee: play should have been stopped and England's equalizer would have been immediately disallowed.

Every goal is subject to VAR review, but the footage shown to officials apparently did not display the incident clearly enough. It is worth emphasizing that the evidence must be conclusive — an inherently subjective standard that grants referees a degree of discretion.

Has This Ever Happened Before?

Given the sheer volume of soccer matches played with a spidercam in operation, such an incident was bound to occur eventually, though it remains exceptionally uncommon. One recent example took place during Canada's Concacaf Gold Cup group stage match against El Salvador last summer.

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Unlike the subtle incident in England's knockout tie with Norway, the contact between the camera and the ball was impossible to miss, with debris raining down after a high clearance made direct contact.

As Norway may well point out, the referee stopped play on that occasion.