Alisson’s cheat sheet becomes a coveted item ahead of England v Norway at the World Cup
A sheet of notes prepared by the Brazilian national team’s coaching staff before the round-of-16 clash with Norway at the 2026 World Cup drew unexpected attention. The document, which details Norway’s penalty takers, could be of direct interest to England, who face the Scandinavians in the quarter-finals at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
The sheet Alisson never got to use
The sheet was drawn up to prepare Alisson Becker for a possible penalty shootout against Norway. The logic was simple: in the knockout stages, the margin for improvisation is zero, and goalkeepers arrive at the spot kicks with detailed dossiers on every opposing taker.
The document never made it onto the pitch. Brazil were eliminated within regulation time, beaten 2-1 with two goals from Erling Haaland. The sheet was left over – and ended up found and released by sources linked to the European press. On it were summarised details of the main Norwegian takers, with emphasis on Haaland and captain Martin Ødegaard.
What this has to do with England
A lot. The England team are now the ones who need to stop exactly those same players in a possible penalty shootout. Jordan Pickford, the Three Lions’ first-choice goalkeeper, has a well-established record in this kind of situation: at Euro 2024, he drew attention by using notes taped to his water bottle to consult the preferences of opposing takers.
The question is whether the England coaching staff, on becoming aware of the content of the Brazilian sheet, will use it as a starting point for their own analytical work. It is not about copying someone else’s material – the real value lies in confirming or refining the tendencies identified by Brazil’s staff, who probably worked with a significant volume of data on the Norwegians.
Penalties as science, not luck
The practice of preparing this type of sheet stopped being a novelty years ago in top-level football. Today, practically every major national team or European club arrives at the decisive stages with specific reports on opposing takers – sometimes printed on laminated cards, sometimes taped to bottles, sometimes quickly consulted at the interval before the kicks.
What makes this episode curious is the path of the information: a document prepared for Brazil, which did not serve Brazil, may now bear fruit for an opposing team at an even more advanced stage of the competition. If Pickford manages to save a kick in Miami and England advance to the semi-finals, the episode will certainly earn an interesting footnote in the history of this World Cup.
