Alexander Sorloth speaks after decision not to pass to Erling Haaland results in death threats

Norway return home with their heads held high after an impressive showing in their first World Cup since 1998. They made a historic run to the quarterfinals, but some fans are still fuming over a decision by Alexander Sorloth.

Sorloth feeling wrath after ignoring Haaland

The Vikings that took over the tournament, and won the hearts of those not just back home but all around the world saw their World Cup quest come to an end against England over the weekend. They took the Three Lions to extra time where Jude Bellingham scored his second goal of the match and gave England a lead they would hold on to until the final whistle.

While Norway’s World Cup exceeded anyones expectations, there are some back home that haven’t forgotten a play that could have completely changed the outcome of the game. Right before the halftime break Alexander Sorloth and Norway had a chance to double their lead after Andreas Schjelderup scored the opener in the 36th minutes. The Atletico Madrid striker led a counter down the right side and had Erling Haaland in space in the middle of the park, but didn’t pass to the Manchester City man.

Norway would go on to allow the equalizer in stoppage time of the first half, and lost the match in extra time when Jude Bellingham secured his brace and sent England through to the semifinals. Sorloth would receive criticism from pundits, the media and his own fans who went to the comment section of his Instagram and took aim at the forward with some horrific comments, and death threats after not passing to Haaland.

Dream run takes an ugly turn

The last post he has on Instagram came after Norway’s round of 16 win over Brazil, and the comments section has exploded since the loss to England. There are now over 170,000 comments on that post from July 6th, and many of them are threatening messages that were posted after the loss on Saturday.

A few days after the loss, Sorloth reflected on the decision not to pass to Haaland saying, “After my first touch I looked up and saw Stones blocking that passing lane. So I took another touch, but that touch was poor. I should have been the one to move first to unbalance him, but instead I waited for him to move.”

He continued, stating his intention was to slide it over to his attacking partner but ran out of time. “What I wanted most in that situation was to pass to Erling. But it looked like that pass wouldn’t work, so I chose to shoot. It’s really hard. I keep thinking I should have done that scene better. Of course more chances will come, but it is harder because it happened on the biggest stage with a World Cup semifinal spot at stake.”

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