Norway made history. For the first time, they advanced to the quarterfinals of a World Cup, and they did it by eliminating none other than Brazil 2-1 in New York, with a brace from Erling Haaland that left half a continent speechless 😨⚽
Brazil had a penalty, but Bruno Guimarães sent it straight into the hands of Örjan Nyland. Neymar, who had come on from the bench, pulled one back from the penalty spot deep into stoppage time, but the score did not change again. Carlo Ancelotti watched from the bench as the dream of a sixth World Cup title slipped away once more.
And as always when Brazil stumble, social media did not take long to pull the ‘cat curse’ out of the drawer: that episode from Qatar 2022 when a CBF press officer roughly threw aside a cat that had climbed onto the table during Vinícius Júnior’s press conference. Since then, every Brazil elimination has carried the invisible signature of ‘Hexa,’ the cat that the CBF adopted to ease the guilt 🙀
