Dan Burn is being tipped to start England's quarter-final against Norway as Erling Haaland poses the key goalscoring threat.
Steve Bruce believes Dan Burn could be the man to keep Erling Haaland quiet this weekend.
England face a mammoth World Cup quarter-final against Norway on Saturday. Haaland was at his clinical best to dump Brazil out of the last 16 with a ruthless brace.
He now has seven goals at the tournament - one more than Three Lions talisman Harry Kane. Much of the pre-match debate has centred on how to keep Haaland - no stranger to Premier League fans - under wraps in Miami.
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Is Dan Burn the man?
Newcastle United supporters were buzzing after watching Burn stand up for his country against Mexico. With England down to 10 men, Thomas Tuchel turned to the 6ft 7in defender to close out the final 15 minutes.
Burn - thrown into the Azteca deep end for his World Cup debut - contributed with several vital blocks and headers to become a national cult hero. Interestingly, Haaland has only scored one goal in eight appearances against a Toon outfit with Burn in defence - and he played left-back.
Calls have ramped up on social media for the Blyth native to be tasked with topping Haaland this weekend. Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa have been Tuchel’s preferred centre-back partnership so far.
Steve Bruce backs Dan Burn
Speaking to talkSPORT, former Newcastle boss Bruce has backed Burn to win the physical battle with the Manchester City superstar. He said: “We've had the pleasure of watching him over the last few years in the Premier League and we know exactly what he is. I mean, the guy's an absolute physical beast. He's got the ability to run behind you as well and we all know he's a wonderful finisher.
“The suggestion about Dan Burn is not a bad one because, if anybody's equipped to look after him physically, Dan is a beast, isn't he? So physically, I can understand that. I'm not so sure he'll (Tuchel) do it because I think he'll stay with (Marc) Guehi and (Ezri) Konza.
“He might not get involved in the game. People say, ‘Oh, yeah, he doesn't touch the ball many times’ and this, that and the other. He's only interested in one thing - and that's to score a goal.
“He's very, very good at it. Look, for us to win the game, whoever's going to play centre-back, we're going to have to defend well. But I'm quite confident that we'll have too much for Norway. I really, really am.”
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