When Norway faces England in the World Cup quarterfinals on Saturday, the Norwegians will be modest underdogs despite their strong showing so far.
But in 1981, the gap between the nations was astronomical. So it was a seismic shock when Norway beat England, 2-1, for the first time ever in a qualifying game in Oslo for the 1982 World Cup.
The moment, like so many in sports, was immortalized by an incandescent radio announcer’s call that has become as famous as the result itself.
As Norwegian fans ran across the field at Ullevaal Stadion following the final whistle, Bjørge Lillelien, calling the game on the Norwegian radio station NRK, launched into a delirious, joyful rant.
“We are the best in the world!” he declared in Norwegian. “It is completely unbelievable! We have beaten England! England, birthplace of giants.” He began to reel off a list of notable English people — Lord Nelson, Winston Churchill, Lady Diana — and declared “we have beaten them all.”
And then he switched to English to deliver a message right to the prime minister: “Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me?” and “Maggie Thatcher, your boys took a hell of a beating!”
Many nations have a famous sports call that can still bring people of the right age back to the moment of triumph: “Do you believe in miracles?” “They think it’s all over”; “Henderson has scored for Canada”; “Siempre Maradona. Genio! Genio! Genio!” and “Dennis Bergkamp … ahhhhhhh!”
In a nation known more for cross-country skiing than for other sports, Mr. Lillelien’s 1981 call has achieved such fame.
“Bjørge Lillelien’s commentary has legendary status in Norway and is frequently quoted,” Espen Olsen Langfeldt, the current head of sports at NRK, said in an email.
While the game was televised in Norway, the broadcast was interrupted several times for news reports, as was common at the time. So, many people preferred the radio, or listened to it while watching the game with the television sound off.
The call is so well known that it has been parodied with some frequency in Norwegian and English popular culture. For example, when England beat New Zealand in cricket in 2007, the BBC called out Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Peter Jackson and Sir Edmund Hillary in its online coverage of the contest, followed by “We have beaten them all.”
And it is suddenly back on the minds of many in both countries ahead of Saturday’s match, the first ever between the two nations in the men’s World Cup. At the time of that 1981 game, Norway had met England five times in men’s soccer, losing all five by a combined score of 24-2.
Mr. Langfeldt said the 1981 game “marked a turning point for Norwegian football, proving that we could finally defeat the sport’s major nations.”
Despite the win and Mr. Lillelien’s remarks, however, the game did not actually make Norway “the best in the world.” Norway did not end up coming close to making that 1982 World Cup, and England qualified despite the loss.
Before this year, Norway had been to only three World Cups, and none since 1998. But after 28 years away, Norway has been a formidable presence in this year’s tournament. Its fans have made a splash with synchronized pantomime rowing, an allusion to the days of the Vikings, with players and even the prime minister joining in.
And the team, led by seven goals from Erling Haaland, has advanced farther than ever in its history. It beat Ivory Coast, then Brazil, in knockout-round games to reach a quarterfinal matchup against England on Saturday in Miami.
Mr. Langfeldt said the excitement for Saturday’s game in Norway was greater than for the 1981 game. “We are also not the heavy underdogs against England that we were back in ’81,” he said, “so it won’t be considered a huge sensation if we actually beat them on Saturday.”
We’ll see if Keir Starmer’s boys take a beating this time.
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