Norway vs. England World Cup prediction: Odds, picks, best bets for Saturdays quarterfinal

Saturday evening’s weather forecast in Miami is partly cloudy, but the stars will be shining bright.England and Norway’s World Cup quarterfinal clash has no shortage of top-tier striker talents seeking the scoresheet.Norway’s Erling Haaland has potted seven goals for the tournament’s third-highest total, trailing only Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi in Golden Boot odds at 7/1 via DraftKings Sportsbook. He’s scored in all five games and tallied a brace in Norway’s 2-1 triumph over Brazil to propel The Vikings to their first-ever quarterfinal. Right behind him is England’s Harry Kane, who has six genos and is priced at 8/1.

Kane has been captain clutch for The Three Lions, rescuing England with a late brace against DR Congo before burying the game-winning strike against Mexico on their home turf. Both players carry modest prices on the anytime goal scorer market into this game with Kane juiced to -120 and Haaland at +105.Those are implied probabilities of 55 percent and 49 percent, respectively. The volatility at play here steers me away from either side on the three-way moneyline.

If you’re line shopping, BetMGM is offering England for -110 while FanDuel is quoting Norway at +310. The Norwegians’ highly aggressive counter-attacking system is designed to maximize Haaland’s output.At the same time, the defense pays for it: they have yet to keep a clean sheet in this tournament and are conceding 1.64 expected goals per game, which is the highest mark of all eight remaining teams.

Overall, they rank near the bottom of all 48 teams with 8.1.England has all the tools to punish this system — namely being Jude Bellingham.He doesn’t operate like a traditional No.

10 who stays high between the lines.Instead, he drops deep, so when England wins the ball and explodes forward, defenders are occupied with Kane while he attacks the space left behind.

Those late arrivals are notoriously difficult to defend — especially for teams who commit numbe...