Ben Cabango will have a souvenir from the night Wales beat Norway. After the final whistle at the Cardiff City Stadium he asked Erling Haaland for his shirt, and Haaland handed it over. "He was just there, so I thought, 'Why not?'" the Swansea City defender said. There was one catch. "He just gave me the shirt... but he didn't take mine."
The request came after a night in which Cabango spent 90 minutes making Haaland's life difficult. Wales won 2-1 in the Nations League, their first victory in seven games and their first ever in League A, and the Manchester City striker was kept quiet.
A recall that paid off
Cabango, 26, was brought back into the starting line-up after Sunday's 2-0 defeat by Denmark in Copenhagen. It was his 18th senior cap. Wales had gone behind to Oscar Bobb's early goal before Dan James and Neco Williams turned it around, but the afternoon's quieter story was at the back, where Cabango and captain Ben Davies kept Norway's forwards away from the Wales box.
Head coach Craig Bellamy was in no doubt about it. "They were brilliant, really, really good," he said. The plan, he explained, had been talked about before the game and worked on in training: keep Norway as far from the penalty area as possible. "It's easier said than done," Bellamy admitted, "but that's why we were constantly pushing." He called the pair's work exceptional.
Ronaldo, then Haaland
Cabango has had an unusual couple of weeks. He played in the opening Nations League game against Portugal in Lisbon, where he lined up against Cristiano Ronaldo, and now he has marked Haaland. "It is surreal to play against Ronaldo and Haaland in the same camp," he said. He added that you learn from those players: you cannot switch off for a second, and that, he thinks, brings out the best in him.
He did not hide how he felt about the result either. Cabango called it probably his best game for Wales, said he enjoyed the battle, and described the win as a bounce-back from the Denmark defeat that the whole squad had earned together, including the players who came off the bench. He was part of the Wales squad at the 2022 World Cup finals, so big names are not new to him. Marking the pair of them inside four days still counts for something.
Match facts: Wales 2-1 Norway, UEFA Nations League, Cardiff City Stadium, Thursday 1 October 2026. Norway: Bobb (early). Wales: Dan James, Neco Williams. Wales' first win in seven games and first in Nations League A. Next: Wales v Denmark, Sunday 4 October. Source reporting: BBC Sport.
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