EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — For the first time in this World Cup, two top-scoring stars meet in a knockout-round encounter when Vinicius Junior’s Brazil face Erling Haaland’s Norway in the round of 16 on Sunday.

Haaland has scored five times in Norway’s first World Cup appearance since 1998. He is tied for third behind Argentina’s Lionel Messi (seven) and France’s Kylian Mbappe (seven). Vinicius Junior was one of several players sitting on four goals.

For Norway, the match also will be arguably the biggest in the Nordic nation’s footballing history — at least since they last faced Brazil at that ‘98 tournament and earned a 2-1 victory in the group finale to book their place in the last 16.

That version of Brazil entered as tournament favorites and rotated its squad after clinching its place in the knockouts. This one is seen by some as eminently beatable, presenting Norway a chance to make national history with a first quarterfinal appearance.

“We need to play the match, not the circumstances,” insisted Norway manager Stole Solbakken. “We need to make sure that we don’t play according to the occasion but that we simply play the match.”

That largely means continuing to do what Norway have done, winning three of their four matches with their lone defeat coming while rotating their squad against France having already secured the last 32.

Haaland scored the late winner in a compelling 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast in the round of 32 in Arlington, Texas, and he’s found the net in all three of his tournament appearances. But while Brazil are synonymous globally with attacking football, Haaland may face the most formidable defensive duo he has seen so far in center backs Gabriel Magalhaes and Marquinhos.

“I think that Brazil has one of the greatest partnerships in the central defense in this World Cup,” Solbakken said. “But it’s, for me, more about Brazil against Norway and not those two against Haaland.”

Norway could be facing a second game without right back Julian Ryerson, but it’s Brazil who carry the more influential injury absence with Lucas Paqueta suffering a hamstring strain during their 2-1 victory over Japan in the round of 32.

That could bring more burden on midfield colleague Bruno Guimaraes, whose four assists rank second in the tournament behind the five of France’s Michael Olise. But the Newcastle United man believes he’s ready.

“The last World Cup was definitely a learning opportunity for me,” the 28-year-old said through an interpreter. “I wasn’t up to the task. I have to be quite honest with you. … But in this World Cup, my mindset is completely different. Again, this is my biggest dream. And I just want to play my best brand of football.”

Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti, the five-time UEFA Champions League winner hired 13 months ago to right what appeared to be a wayward ship, admitted there won’t be a perfect solution for replacing the work Paqueta does in connecting the defense to the attack.

“We do not have anyone else on the team with the same characteristics as Lucas Paqueta, so we’ll have to find someone else,” he said through an interpreter. “I’ll choose the player based on the type of match that we expect, considering obviously the strength of our opponent, because I think that’s something that we always have to take into account. And of course, we need to think about the idea that we want to score against them tomorrow.”

–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media

The future is bright for Canada even though the present is clouded by a 3-0 loss to Morocco in the round of 16 at Houston on Saturday.

To be fair, the score was not indicative of how the Canadians had the No. 6 team in the world on the ropes in the first half and doesn’t diminish the fact that the Canadians went further in this World Cup than any previous foray.

Despite key injuries and the novelty of playing the big boys on the biggest stage, coach Jesse Marsch as only he can be, was ebullient when looking ahead.

“I’d rather be us than them,” he said. “As good as Morocco is, I’d rather be us, right? I’m really proud of our guys. We went after the game, they’re hurting right now, but my goodness, I couldn’t be prouder.

“What a privilege our fans have had to root for a team like this that goes after the game, that doesn’t play defensive, that shows that they can be better. Of course, we have to be in these situations more and more and then we have to find ways to succeed and then we have to build from that. But what a great team.”

But no matter how Marsch feels, Morocco took advantage of their chances while Canada failed to pounce early in the physical match. There were four yellow cards apiece and Canada had 24 fouls to 14 for Morocco.

Azzedine Ounahi gave Morocco the lead in the 50th minute and added another in the 82nd minute on a breakout before Soufiane Rahimi scored against a pressing Canada in the eighth minute of stoppage time.

Morocco, unbeaten in 34 matches, play July 9 in Foxborough, Mass., against France, a 1-0 winner over Paraguay on Saturday.

Morocco suffered a major blow in the 22nd minute when leading scorer Ismael Saibari had to leave with a possible hamstring injury. The 25-year-old attacking midfielder scored in all three group matches and on Wednesday it was announced he was joining Germany’s Bayern Munich from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.

After a listless first half, Morocco stunned Canada with a goal from nowhere on only their second shot of the match.

Achraf Hakimi lined up for a free kick to the right of the goal after a yellow card, the seventh of the match, to Canada’s Luc de Fougerolles for a sloppy foul on Soufiane Rahimi.

“We had 11 incredible performances in the first half, we were unlucky not to get the lead,” Marsch said. “We should have been on top of the game. We should have had the lead, and then it’s the fine details, right? “Like, do we need to foul on the sideline, and then dealing with the set piece, but they have quality.”

Ounahi scored an insurance goal to become the first Moroccan to score twice in a World Cup match since Salaheddine Bassir in 1998 against Scotland.

“I think everybody back home should be very proud,” Canada midfielder Stephen Eustaquio said. “We always felt the love back home from the Canadians. We’re finally a soccer country. We need this support to go forward.

“We’re going to enter another cycle of four years. Everybody, the youngsters here, they need (the fans’) support throughout the four years so that we make sure that we can go even further in the next World Cup.”

Being healthy would help. Canada was dealt a serious setback in the second group match vs. Qatar when midfielder Ismael Kone broke his leg after a horrendous tackle against him.

Also, captain Alphonso Davies, who sustained a hamstring injury in early May playing for Germany’s Bayern Munich, made only one appearance in the World Cup – the final 15 minutes against South Africa in the round of 32.

Still, Marsch was defiant to the end in praising his team’s effort against Morocco.

“We were the better team,” he said. “They made a couple more plays than us. … It was just they have a little bit of quality in the final third, but we lacked a little ability to make a play when we needed to.”

That makes him even more anxious for 2030.

“I think that there’s real excitement and with that excitement comes higher expectations,” he said. “So next World Cup, everyone’s going to say that anything less than the round of 16 is a failure, right? Anything less than the next Copa America semifinals is a failure.

“We enjoy those expectations. Nobody has higher expectations of ourselves than us. Nobody’s more disappointed in the fact that we lost the game that we were very much in control of than ourselves and so we have to swallow that pride. We have to continue to think about how to get better, be humble to the fact that we have a lot more to work to do.”

–Field Level Media

A plethora of challenges face England as they battle host Mexico on Sunday night in what will surely be a raucous atmosphere at Mexico City.

The World Cup group of 16 match will be played at 7,200-foot altitude in possible treacherous weather that nearly led to the match being pushed up six hours.

There also is fear of not getting a good night’s sleep as Mexico fans staged a crazy noisy scene complete with fireworks outside Ecuador’s hotel the night before Mexico’s 2-0 victory on Tuesday.

Then there’s this: Mexico’s national squad is 70-2-17 all-time at Estadio Azteca since it opened in 1966.

“It is maybe one of the most beautiful fixtures, the most exciting fixtures that you can have, to play against Mexico in the Azteca,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said. “And there will be a lot of obstacles waiting for us, not to mention the altitude will be, of course, a big disadvantage because we cannot physically adapt to it in four days. It’s just impossible.”

England is coming off a tightly-contested 2-1 win over DR Congo on Wednesday in Atlanta. The Three Lions are taking aim at reaching at least the quarterfinals for the third straight World Cup.

Mexico have their sights on reaching the quarterfinals for just the third time. They also advanced that far in 1970 and 1986.

But after outscoring opponents 8-0 over four World Cup matches, El Tri are optimistic the familiar surroundings can be the deciding asset.

“It’s a match everyone dreamed of — facing England in the Round of 16 in this stadium,” Mexico midfielder Alvaro Fidalgo said. “It’s probably one of the biggest games we are ever going to experience as players. We know they have good players; we know how they play. Their midfield is highly physical, above all. They have great players in every position. They are going to be great opponents.”

The Mexico defense will have to be keenly aware of Harry Kane’s whereabouts at all times.

The English star forward has scored five goals in this World Cup, tied for third with Norway star Erling Haaland entering play on Saturday. Argentina’s Lionel Messi leads the way with seven and France’s Kylian Mbappe is second with six.

Kane is aware the pursuit of victories only gets tougher the deeper you advance in the World Cup. He said it’s time for the club to dig down deep.

“There are still things to work on for sure and these rounds are just about getting through,” Kane said. “We are in the part of the tournament when you have to grind wins out, and that’s what we have done.”

Midfielder Jude Bellingham (two goals, one assist) is also enjoying a strong tournament.

Mexico doesn’t have a megastar like Kane but forwards Julian Quinones (three goals, one assist), Raul Jimenez (two goals) and Roberto Alvarado (three assists) are leading El Tri’s strong run.

“Our team is complete and competitive,” Quinones said. “We know what our goal is and we believe we can do it.”

Mexico coach Javier Aguirre sharply criticized officials on Friday for considering moving up the time so he’s surely happy that the night-time kickoff stayed put.

But Tuchel and his club still need to worry about getting some sleep on Saturday night amid a possible loud congregation.

“We will expect that but what can we do?” said Tuchel, indicating earplugs will be part of the sleeping regimen.

The winner faces either Brazil or Norway in the quarterfinals.

–Field Level Media