England defender Dan Burn believes the team must significantly improve on their Mexico performance to overcome Norway in their World Cup quarter-final this weekend, a challenge he relishes, particularly the prospect of keeping Erling Haaland quiet.
A place in the semi-finals is on offer in the Miami heat, as Thomas Tuchel’s men face the "Scandinavian surprise package," buoyed by their recent 2-1 victory against Brazil.
England’s previous game saw the Three Lions overcome hostility, altitude, and Jarell Quansah’s red card to secure a 3-2 victory over Mexico at the Estadio Azteca.
Burn played a key role off the bench, helping Tuchel’s 10 men batten down the hatches.
However, the towering defender knows far more is required if they are to avoid an "agonising quarter-final exit" to Norway.
“It does not surprise us at all how well they’ve done, to be honest,” Burn told talkSPORT.
“I saw how well they did in qualification. They had a tough group work with Italy in it and topped that, and scored however many goals, so it doesn’t surprise us that they’re doing well, even beating Brazil.
“I know Brazil were favourites for that but when you’ve got players like Haaland and (Martin) Odegaard, and people that can affect the game, it doesn’t surprise us that they’re at this stage.
“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, but it’s something that we’re prepared for.
“The manager had a meeting (Wednesday) morning and sort of said like ‘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.
“Now it’s focusing on that. 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.”
Haaland is the brightest star among a squad filled with Premier League talent, with the Manchester City sharpshooter’s brace seeing off Brazil on Sunday.
The 25-year-old has scored seven goals this summer, just one behind Golden Boot leader Lionel Messi, but has only managed to score once in his previous contests with Newcastle defender Burn.
“Yeah, I don’t want to jinx it,” the veteran said with a laugh. “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.
“If I’m asked to do that, I’ll be more than ready and more than happy to do that.
“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.”
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