England vs Norway World Cup kits confirmed as unusual change revealed | Football | Sport

England are preparing for a clash against Norway in the quarter-final of the World Cup, with a place in the last four up for grabs. It’s the third consecutive time England have reached this stage of the tournament, with anticipation surrounding the Three Lions’ chances of going all the way starting to grow.

They’ll have to stop the imperious Erling Haaland if that is going to be the case, with the Manchester City star having shone at this summer’s tournament. Haaland has netted seven goals in five matches so far, with only Lionel Messi having scored more.

That’s to come on Saturday, and ahead of the match in Miami, the kits that both teams will wear have been confirmed. For England, they’ll sport their home shirt for the match, as well as a combination of white shorts and socks.

It will be the third time they’ve used that combination at this year’s World Cup, having also worn it for the Croatia and DR Congo matches.

Norway will also be in their traditional red home shirt for the quarter-final meeting, but eyebrows have been raised with the decision to go with navy blue shorts and socks.

Norway’s usual home strip is a mix of red shirt, white shorts and blue socks, but because of the white on England’s kit, they’ve been forced to change.

The expectation was that Norway would go for the full red kit they wore against Iraq and France earlier in the tournament, but they’ve decided against that and will sport red and navy blue.

Social media users have been reacting to the decision, with @maurimar24 saying: “I like this combination better,all red looks like Switzerland.”

@ConfusedFergie added: “No reason at all that both countries can’t or shouldn’t be wearing their traditional colour schemes. So minor I know, but England just looks so much more like England in their traditional White shirt/Navy shorts combo.”

@Boblordclaret replied: “The England kit looks so much better with navy shorts.”

It was reported earlier this week that some Norwegian players had come down with a bug, with suggestions that the arduous travel schedules have taken their toll.

Norway have never reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup, so will have already made history by the time they step out onto the pitch in Miami. The Nordic nation are competing in their first World Cup since 1998 and their previous best run came when they reached the round-of-16 at France 98.