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LET THE MIND GAMES BEGIN! Norway offer vastly contrasting updates on sickness bug in camp ahead of England World Cup clash
Jul 08 2026 20:57 · By Daniel Marsh,Senior Sports Reporter · 5 Reads
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Orjan Nyland has claimed
Norway
's team doctor has been "very busy" in the build-up to their
World Cup
quarter-final with
England
due to a sickness bug — only for the doctor himself to play down the situation.
Nyland and Co booked a showdown with England this Saturday after
stunning Brazil on Sunday
courtesy of a late brace from the imperious
Erling Haaland
. It is the first time in their history that they have reached the quarter-final stage of the World Cup and they have emerged as one of the tournament dark horses.
With Haaland in tow, Norway will fancy their chances of another upset when they take to the field with England.
However, it emerged earlier this week that
a sickness bug has rocked the camp
during their preparations for the game, sparking fears elsewhere that Norway could be below strength at the weekend.
And their goalkeeper, Nyland, has confirmed that the sickness bug has impacted the team in the past few days.
He told James Corden: "I can confirm that it's true, we've had our issues, we're doing the best we can and the team doctor is very busy at the moment. I have no idea what the source was, we did have some time off so maybe someone contracted something.
"Hopefully everything goes well and we face England with a fully rested squad on Saturday."
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Norway have had to contend with sickness throughout their World Cup campaign with Marcus Holmgren Pedersen missing the historic win over
Brazil
. Jorgen Strand Larsen, the
Crystal Palace
striker, was also absent from their World Cup opener due to illness.
Norwegian outlet
Dagbladet
reports that fatigue has played a role with all the air travel the team have had to undertake. They are based in Greensboro, North Carolina and have had games in Boston, New Jersey and Dallas.
Intriguingly, though, Norway's team doctor has played down the situation, even telling Nettavisen that "all players are healthy now".
"Very little fuss considering that we have been close together for almost six weeks," he added before he was asked about the English reaction to reports.
"So great that they believe this. We are in control."