Dan Burn says England must improve against Norway as Haaland test awaits

• Dan Burn believes England must produce a stronger performance against Norway than they did against Mexico.
• The defender said Erling Haaland can decide matches with a single opportunity inside the penalty area.
• England face Norway in the World Cup quarterfinals with a place in the last four at stake.

Dan Burn believes England will need to raise their performance against Norway if they are to reach the World Cup semifinals, warning that Erling Haaland requires only one opportunity to change the course of a match.

England booked their place in the quarterfinals with a dramatic 3-2 victory over Mexico, overcoming the challenge of playing at altitude and finishing the match with 10 men following Jarell Quansah’s red card.

Burn played an important role after coming off the bench, helping England protect their advantage during the closing stages at the Estadio Azteca.

The Newcastle United defender, however, insisted the team must improve significantly ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Norway in Miami.

“It is one of them where we’re going to have to be top level all over the pitch and put in probably a lot better performance than we did against Mexico to get through,” Burn said.

“But it’s something that we’re prepared for.”

“The manager had a meeting this morning and sort of said, ‘Mexico is done now.’”

“We’ve sort of sat and took the praise and everything for it, but it means nothing really if we don’t beat Norway.”

Burn expects different challenges against Norway after England battled the altitude in Mexico City.

“Now it’s focusing on that,” he said.

“It’ll be different conditions. We’ll not have the altitude, but we’ll have the heat.”

“And you know with Erling, he only needs one touch in the box to score, so everyone’s going to have to be on it.”

Norway arrive in the quarterfinals after defeating Brazil 2-1, with Haaland scoring both goals to take his World Cup tally to seven and move within one goal of Golden Boot leader Lionel Messi.

Burn has previously faced the Manchester City striker in the Premier League and welcomed the prospect of another physical contest.

“Yeah, I don’t want to jinx it,” Burn said with a laugh when asked about Haaland’s record against him.

“But, yeah, one goal.”

“I do enjoy playing against Erling purely just from a physical point of view.”

“I quite like that sort of physical battle, and I get on well with him on the pitch.”

“We do get on quite well, although you’d have to ask him if he thinks the same thing.”

Burn said he would embrace the responsibility if selected to mark Haaland but stressed England have strength throughout their defensive options.

“If I’m asked to do that, I’ll be more than ready and more than happy to do that,” he said.

“But obviously I also know that we’ve got sort of four other centre halves here who are also top-quality players and have played this whole tournament because of that too.”

England face Norway on Saturday with a place in the World Cup semifinals on the line as Thomas Tuchel’s side look to continue their run in the tournament.