Norway stunned the football world on Sunday by eliminating record five-time champions Brazil from the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The Vikings rode on the back of two late goals from Erling Haaland to secure a 2-1 triumph in New Jersey. Neymar struck a compensatory penalty deep in injury time, but it was not enough to deny Norway a first-ever quarter final appearance on the global stage.
With the brace, Haaland took his goal tally to seven in his debut World Cup. The Manchester City striker is now level with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in the race for the golden boot. While he took all the plaudits for the victory, it was his teammate Patrick Berg that dominated the online conversations for completely unrelated reasons.
Berg continued his good run of form in the midfield to contribute on both sides of the field. The Bodo/Glimt midfielder nearly scored just three minutes into the game after being put one-on-one with Alisson Becker. Even though the 28-year-old slotted the ball in the top-right corner, the flag was raised and Berg was adjudged offside.
However, as the cameras zoomed in on him, fans on social media quickly realized an eerie resemblance. Berg looks like an exact replica of namesake Patrick Jane, the protagonist from popular TV drama ‘The Mentalist’.
Posts flooded X putting Berg side-by-side with stills from the show of Simon Baker, the Australian actor that plays the character of Jane.
Both men boast a clean shaven baby-faced look exemplified by stunning blonde locks. The fact that Berg sports long hair kept in place by a hairband only accentuates the comparison, given Jane himself is shown to don a mullet.
“You made one of my favorite series, but I’d never forgive you for scoring a goal against Brazil”, a Brazilian fan immediately piped in on X.
“Guessing which way the Brazilians were kicking”, another took the opportunity to poke fun at the Men in Yellow.
“What was Patrick Jane doing playing for Norway?” echoed a third.
In the show, Jane is an ex-conman who uses his observational abilities to help solve murders. He is not contracted by the California Bureau of Investigation but works as a consultant, with the eventual aim of tracking down his arch-nemesis and serial killer Red John. The premise was all the fodder fans needed to poke fun at the similarities between Berg and Jane.
“He has to make a living somehow if he works for free for the police,” an X user cleverly wrote.
“It’s always good to have a mentalist on the team,” came a reply.
“There’s a place where Patrick Jane doesn’t sneak in?” the meme barrage continued
Once the goal had been voided, fans went so far as to paint the linesman as Red John. Their choice of expression was drawing a red smiley face on the referee, referencing the antagonist’s criminal signature.
“someone get Red John to catch this guy”, read a tweet.
Some others alleged that Berg was in fact Jane’s son. In the show, the mentalist gets married to his boss Teresa Lisbon and the couple is shown to be pregnant in the series finale.
“He dedicated it to Lisbon, the great guy”, an X post read.
“The son that he and Lisbon had in the last episode”, another echoed.
The most creative comparison of them all placed Berg in the quirky shoes of Jane, reimagining the character on the glorious World Cup stage:
“- Jane, this is not the time for you to be playing the World Cup, we have a serious case.
– Calm down Lisbon, the killer is at the stadium, I knew it because there was a Macarena CD in his apartment.”
Berg would be hopeful of reaching star status himself as Norway continues to march on in the World Cup. The team takes on England next in the quarterfinals, in Miami on Saturday.
