James Wallond, 34, will be rooting for the Three Lions but his wife Emma, 31, will be on Norway’s side.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
The British pair, originally from Milton Keynes<\/a>, have lived in Oslo for the last six years.<\/p>\n Emma, a marketing agency owner, says seeing the Norwegians celebrate their wins so far has fueled her love for the team.<\/p>\n But James is firm that he is sticking with his “English roots.”<\/p>\n The couple are donning their rival team shirts and are preparing to cheer for the opposite teams from the same sofa.<\/p>\n Emma said: “This is such a difficult one. My head is saying England, but my heart is with Norway.<\/p>\n “I am proud of my English roots, but nothing prepared me for the atmosphere that has swept across Norway during the tournament.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “They haven’t qualified for a major tournament for ages, so every result has meant absolutely everything.<\/p>\n “When they qualified, fireworks were going off. When they won their first group game against Iceland on June 17, we woke up at 2 a.m. to fireworks, people screaming with excitement and cars honking their horns.<\/p>\n “The funny thing is the sun barely sets at this time of year, so you could hear the fireworks more than you could actually see them.”<\/p>\n James, a global key account manager in the green technology sector, and Emma met while studying at university and later worked together at Volkswagen.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Emma believes the celebrations have felt very different from those she’s experienced back home.<\/p>\n She said: “In England we’re almost used to getting through the early stages, so the excitement doesn’t really build until the semifinals.<\/p>\n “Here, every single win has brought people together. It feels like it means so much more because they’ve gone so much further than anyone expected.”<\/p>\n She watched Norway’s defeat to France in central Oslo and says the mood across the city immediately changed.<\/p>\n She added: “Everyone was genuinely disappointed. Then I watched the Brazil game outside City Hall when Norway won and it was unbelievable. There were thousands of people celebrating together.”<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n For Emma, it’s the sense of community that has stood out most.<\/p>\n She said: “Norwegians usually keep themselves to themselves, but after the victories everyone was talking to strangers, standing on balconies cheering and celebrating together.<\/p>\n “It feels really community-driven. Everyone is just enjoying the moment together.<\/p>\n “In England the celebrations can sometimes get a bit rowdy. Here it’s been much more about everyone coming together.<\/p>\n “It’s been amazing to witness. Being here has shown me what this tournament has meant to Norway, and a small part of me doesn’t want that feeling to end.”<\/p>\n Despite his wife’s growing affection for Norway, James has no doubts about where his loyalties lie.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n James said: “I’m from England so I support England. I have my flag outside the house.<\/p>\n “It’s where I’m from. There’s definitely an affection for Norway because we’ve built our life here, but England is who I am and who I’ll always support.”<\/p>\n The friendly rivalry has become part of the fun in the Wallond household, with both determined to enjoy the occasion whatever the result.<\/p>\n James said: “We’ll definitely be cheering against each other.<\/p>\n “If England lose, I’ve already got my Norway hat ready and it’ll be straight on.”<\/p>\n The post England against Norway match splits couple living in Oslo<\/a> appeared first on Talker<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Lula White A footy-mad couple say Saturday’s World Cup match will split their household down the middle,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[85],"tags":[3966,157,156],"class_list":["post-127854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oslo","tag-england","tag-norway","tag-oslo"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116904234077457644","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"<a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b4c38ae2dd20f49987c40c356b7cd710.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n