John Terry says Martin Odegaard is central to ‘everything’ Norway do well and England must ‘stop’ the midfielder to keep their World Cup hopes alive this summer.
The Three Lions booked their place in the quarter-finals with an unforgettable 3-2 victory over co-hosts Mexico, in which Jude Bellingham scored twice and Harry Kane converted from the spot.
Given Mexico’s phenomenal record at the iconic Azteca, which is located 7,000 feet above sea level, the win is likely to be remembered as one of the greatest in the history of the English national team.
Jarell Quansah’s sending off for a foul on Jesus Gallardo shortly after the restart made the result all the more extraordinary, with Thomas Tuchel’s men forced to keep a barrage of attacks at bay in the closing stages.
A freak, tournament-ending injury to Jordan Henderson during the post-match celebrations took some of the gloss off an otherwise dream night for Kane and Co, but the squad must quickly divert their attentions towards the quarter-finals this weekend.
Should they overcome Norway on Saturday night, England will face off against one of Argentina, Egypt, Switzerland or Colombia in the final four.
‘Enormous performance. The only game I can compare that to in my lifetime is the 5-1 against Germany,’ ex-England and Chelsea captain Terry said of the Three Lions’ statement win in Mexico City on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
‘Seeing that last night, the knockout stages, and we’ve been calling for players to stand up and be counted. They were standing up last night and they were there to be counted.
‘I thought it was an unbelievable performance.’
Asked where the display ranks against England’s best-ever performances, Terry replied: ‘Second behind the Germany game for me, yeah, in my generation.
‘I thought individuals were excellent, I thought the tempo, I thought the manager deserved an awful lot of credit.
‘There’s leaders in the group. Harry Kane, we’ve seen that in his football career, Jude Bellingham at that young age doing that already, Declan Rice, I’m also including Reece James in that.
‘They cannot get injured and have to be at the forefront of our success. Without those guys driving the team, driving the standards…
‘You see Jude last night, I compared him to Zinedine Zidane and I was maybe a little bit ambitious, but look at that game last night with what he’s doing, he is unbelievable.
‘His two goals just topped it off for me and what a ball from Harry Kane was well for his second goal.’
England’s next opponents, Norway, boast two of the Premier League’s most high-profile players in their ranks in Manchester City striker Erling Haaland and Arsenal captain Odegaard.
Haaland has taken to his first World Cup like a duck to water, netting seven times in opening four appearances, putting him level with Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi at the top of the goalscoring charts.
But Terry has also been mightily impressed by Odegaard’s impact in the middle of the park, particularly in the Vikings’ 2-1 victory over five-time winners Brazil last time out.
‘Listen, Norway are a good side. I think they’re well drilled,’ Terry said of Norway, who are competing in the quarter-finals for the first time in the nation’s history.
‘I think everything that goes well through that team goes through Martin Odegaard.
‘If England stop him and Erling Haaland then we have a big, big chance.’
Terry had some advice for England’s centre-backs ahead of their daunting battle with Haaland, urging Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa to learn from Gabriel Magalhaes’ questionable defending in New Jersey.
‘It’s difficult because he can just run in behind you. He’s so powerful and so quick so you always have to be aware of that,’ Terry – who represented England at two World Cups – continued.
‘Also, it feels like he’s kind of saving his energy in the games, he’s not making runs in behind, his hold-up play is very good.
‘But then from set-plays and crosses, he just comes alive. Gabriel found that out yesterday.
‘As soon as that ball goes wide as a defender, you cannot be too focused on the ball because Haaland is behind me. As soon as that ball goes wide, I need to take myself out of the equation, take Haaland out of the equation.
‘Who else have they got in the box? One or two others but they’re not as big a threat as Haaland so whoever is marking Haaland in the box, stay tight with him, stay fully focussed on him, be really selfish and take him out the game because at any moment…
‘Harry Kane does it, all the top strikers do it, and Haaland does it probably better than anybody.’