Haaland's Norway load pressure on England ahead of Miami showdown

MIAMI, July 9 : The six decades since England's lone World Cup triumph will come into sharper focus as they head towards Saturday's quarter-final against a Norway team with one of the best strikers in the game but happy to embrace the underdog role.

Erling Haaland has been one of the stars of the tournament with his seven goals taking Norway into uncharted territory at their first World Cup for 28 years - his double against Brazil in the last 16 already the stuff of internet memes.

England will think they have more overall quality and are far more familiar with this stage of major tournaments, having reached the quarter-finals or better at three World Cups and two European Championships in the last eight years.

The 1966 World Cup triumph on home soil remains their only major international title, however, and expectations back home reach fever pitch every time they make the business end of a tournament.

Norway have clearly decided that this could work to their advantage with midfielder Kristian Thorstvedt on Thursday saying his team "don't have much to lose" and Haaland looking to enlist the media to help ramp up the pressure on England.    

"I think there are some clear favourites out there, England is one of them, so I think all of you should put every single pressure on the English lads," the 25-year-old English-born striker told reporters with a grin.

The charismatic Haaland is very much a known quantity to Saturday's opposition after four years in the Premier League and has five current and former clubmates in the England squad.

"We'll treat them with the same respect we show every opponent," said one of them, defender John Stones. 

"We know what they've got, especially with Erling (but) we've put in some great defensive