Choose your favorite from an assortment of Ørjan Nyland’s saves in Norway’s 2-1 win over Brazil. Fine, of course. Brazil have not missed a penalty under World Cup rules since 1986. Or the dangling leg that denied Vinicius Jr a fifth goal. Perhaps, the acrobatic dive saved Christopher Ajer from the ignominy of scoring the strangest goal of the World Cup. Ryan also had a block to deny.
Four saves, each more spectacular than the last. Still, no one took over Nyland that never counted.
In the 63rd minute, Casemiro deflected a cross to Ryan, who headed it into the path of Bruno Guimaraes. The result seemed like a foregone conclusion. Nyland came out, and defying both age and anatomy, made himself look bigger than his 6’4″ frame. Arms and legs played horizontally, he became a star – not just metaphorically, but literally.
The offside flag was raised. Preservation became irrelevant. But try telling that to Nyland, who celebrated it with more gusto than the penalty. For a fleeting second, he was no longer at New Jersey Stadium. He had teleported to Volda’s bedroom, where a poster of Peter Schmeichel hung on the wall. In 1999, Schmeichel produced an almost identical ‘star jump’ to deny Ivan Zamorano in the Champions League quarter-final against Inter Milan. Nyland wanted to replicate it ever since. This was his day.
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Schmeichel appealed for other reasons as well. Like Nyland, he was a handball player. The star jump save was a football innovation, granted, but the technique was borrowed from handball. And despite coming from a ‘small’ country, he became the best in the world.
Regardless, he refused to let the goalkeepers disappear.
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Football is a hierarchical game. Since all its principles are built on the principle of equality, the game could not be more classist. At the very bottom of his power hierarchy are goalkeepers. The database will immortalize Erling Haaland’s brace against Brazil. The striker will be frozen in time and etched in history. Nyland’s save will require memory.
A shot by Brazil’s Bruno Guimaraes is saved by Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland (1). (AP)
Yet, with their brand of goalkeeping – one that is not obscure, but clear – Niyland and Schmeichel command attention. Walking up to an already distraught Brazilian icon, whose tears could have broken down at any moment, and then greeting him with animated taunts ahead of a last-minute penalty that were entirely rhetorical and insecure. It served a theatrical purpose. Nyland wanted to be a hero.
He always has.
In swimming classes as a child, Nyland would jump off a diving board too high for his size. “Relax, I got it,” he would tell his horrified parents, whose hearts were racing. He used to knock training wheels off his bicycle, not because he had mastered the art, but because his friend wasn’t using one. At 12, he’ll break skiing bones in the Sanmorstafeton relay. When the cast left, his first words were: “I’m going straight to the hills.”
He excelled in every sport he attempted. Nyland was on the national skiing team at 13, a star making sticks under for Hødd, a fast-growing golfer and an indispensable member of his handball team.
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Once, when football and handball fixtures clashed, the club argued over who would get it. Nyland found a solution – he played handball in Trondheim, flew to Sunmore and then played football.
However, the hero’s arc soon stopped.
Manchester United and Arsenal would show interest after the 2013 U-21 Euros, where Norway reached the semi-finals, but never made a bid. Everton would, but it was too little. He joined Ingolstadt in Germany, where he was given a chance as first-choice goalkeeper as he left the club.
Things seemed to finally come to fruition when he joined Dean Smith’s Aston Villa. Even in the Championship, Nyland was playing in England, and playing regularly. By then, an ACL injury sidelined him for 183 days. After years of making his best traveling impression, Nyland felt he had finally found a place to call home in Sevilla, before losing the No.1 shirt there too.
In 15 professional seasons, Nyland has made just 396 club appearances. Seven of those seasons were spent as a scholar. in the shade
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Nyland is no longer in the shadows. He might be unemployed after the World Cup, yet to find a club, but East Rutherford caught his eye. “Standing here today and getting paid for all the crap you’ve done, it’s really cool,” he told reporters after the match.
Nyland’s former goalkeeping coach at Hødd, Ronny Osnes, was once asked to name the traits that made his pupil special.
mentality. will power Athleticism. technique. Then came the expected answers.
“Anything else?”
‘Aura,’ said Osnes.
Nyland was exactly that against Brazil. aura