In front of a diverse Dallas World Cup crowd ready for anything, Norway rows on

A father and son from Shreveport who aren’t that into soccer. 

Four friends from Nepal who moved to Texas years ago but dream of visiting the fjords of Norway. 

A Dallasite who dreams of moving to Brazil, and takes the game seriously enough to wear a full suit, cowboy hat and yellow scarf to a game on a 90-degree gameday when his team isn’t playing. 

The Mexico fan wearing a homemade Norway-Ivory Coast cowboy hat. 

Tuesday’s crowd at Dallas Stadium had a little bit of everything. Of course there were the Norway fans — a tall (and sweaty) group clad in red jerseys and viking helmets and baby-blonde wigs in homage to their hero, Erling Braut Haaland, who scored the team’s winning goal in the game’s 86th minute. With the 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast, Norway heads to the Round of 16 to face off against Brazil at MetLife Stadium. 

Scroll through the slideshow below to see superstar Erling Haaland in action

According to the BBC, the State Department required Ivorians who held a World Cup ticket to pay $15,000 for their visas, and visa rejection rates for the countries affected hovered around 40%. 

“It’s a form of segregation that doesn’t dare speak its name, but the proof is there,” Julien Kouadio Adonis, a leader of the Ivory Coast’s fan association, told the BBC. The fan group, the National Committee for the Support of the Elephants, ultimately did not try to send fans to the United States for the games. 

And so between the viking cosplayers and the determined spots of orange, there emerged a World Cup crowd totally different from what Dallas saw during the group stage games, when international fans flooded to North Texas and threw money at the in-demand tickets without blinking. Tuesday’s game was full of soccer fans of every credo; fans who were just happy to get inside. 

Mexico kits were as prevalent as jerseys for either team playing; fans of the U.S., Colombia, England, Germany and Argentina roamed the stadium. Nick Freeman of Shreveport bought tickets for himself and his son a week ago, succumbing to the World Cup hype despite knowing little about the sport. The duo wore Team USA shirts on Tuesday, and said they’d heard of the Norwegian superstar named Haaland, and were excited to see him in action. 

“This was a spur of the moment trip because Dallas was our closest game,” said Freeman, who added that their tickets, which cost an arm and a leg a week ago, were still in the nosebleeds. “We’re not predominantly soccer fans, but it’s a big event that I didn’t want to miss.” 

And for some lucky locals, holding out until the last minute paid off. According to Ticketdata.com, tickets for the Norway vs. Ivory Coast match dropped as low as $520 in the 24 hours before kickoff; get-in prices peaked at $1,400 on June 21. 

Ajit Thapa was one of the fortunate few who snapped up those discounted seats. He and three friends moved to Texas from Nepal several years ago, but wanted to support team Norway when they saw ticket prices fall because they admire the country’s natural beauty. The group rush-printed a sign that said “From Everest to Valhalla” the evening before the game. 

“We have two friends here who paid four times what we did,” Thapa said. “We just wanted to be here.”