Erling Haaland was unwell ahead of England game – ‘he was suffering’

Erling Haaland may have been unwell ahead of Norway’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to England – just like Declan Rice.

That’s according to former Premier League striker Tony Cascarino who revealed a half-time text message alerted him to the possible predicament.

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The Three Lions advanced to the semi-finals, where they will face Argentina, thanks to a 2-1 win after extra-time.

Jude Bellingham proved to be the star of the show – earning a 10/10 in talkSPORT’s player ratings – when most of the pre-match narrative was pitting strikers Harry Kane and Haaland against each other.

His double did the damage, although his first goal was controversial with claims the ball hit the Miami Stadium’s ‘Spyder Cam’ wire.

Bellingham’s ex-Borussia Dortmund teammate Haaland, though, failed to make many meaningful contributions throughout the clash.

Not only did he barely touch the ball, he looked out of sorts too.

England defenders John Stones and Marc Guehi, who are also his clubmates at Man City, will have expected a ferocious battle and instead faced limited sorties.

Although, Haaland will no doubt be furious with former Crystal Palace striker Alexander Sorloth for his decision, with Norway 1-0 up, not to square to him in the penalty area.

But, rather than poor choices by teammates, it appears the 25-year-old was hit most by a sickness bug.

Ahead of the game, England and Arsenal star Rice spent days in bed before managing just 45 minutes in the quarter-final.

And according to Cascarino’s sources, Haaland may well have been suffering similarly.

He told the World Cup Weekender: “No, I was told last night, I got a message at half-time that apparently Erling Haaland wasn’t well.

“He was another one who was suffering from a sickness.

“So, obviously the manager has alluded to it saying fitness issues, and he clearly didn’t look right.

“Whatever we say, he didn’t look right physically.

“He’s come off, and he didn’t say an injury. So I presume it was exactly what I just said. He suffered from not being well.”

He added: “He was unwell, yeah. He was unwell prior to the game.

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“He doesn’t touch the ball a lot anyway but I was surprised about how much energy he lacked as well.

“Him and Sorloth both looked like they didn’t have the sort of drive and he looked absolutely…

“I just looked at him afterwards and thought, well, what I’d heard in half-time – I’m saying I know it from somebody who would know that – he was meant to be [sick], he wasn’t well.”

After the game, Norway manager Stale Solbakken admitted it wasn’t difficult to substitute the striker, despite his previous heroics in the tournament.

He said post-match: “It was not a tough decision to take him out, because he was finished.

“Maybe I should have taken him out ten minutes before.

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“Obviously, he has had a tremendous World Cup, he used all his energy and power game after game after game.

“I think that he also got a dead leg in the second half, so that combined with the fatigue.

“But he did everything that he could, I think he was a bit unlucky in a couple of situations.

“But he scored seven goals in five games for us, he had a fantastic World Cup.”