Out on the right flank, Martin Ødegaard received the ball.
Relying on his slick footwork, he executed a rapid series of feints to shake off his markers.
Denmark's head coach, Åge Hareide, knew exactly how dangerous the Real Madrid loanee could be.
As Ødegaard prepared to drive forward, Denmark's defensive midfielder Thomas Delaney and full-back Jens Stryger Larsen aggressively closed him down.
They pressed him hard, trying to bully the youngster off the ball.
Faced with the heavy pressure, Ødegaard remained ice-cold.
He nudged the ball with his right boot, then swiftly chopped it forward with his left!
He slipped right through the narrow gap between the two Danish enforcers with ease.
"Ødegaard!" Peter called out on the Sky Sports broadcast. "A brilliant breakthrough from the youngster! He's into the box... he takes the shot! But the ball flies wildly out of play."
"Ødegaard is a player who rose to fame incredibly early, Jim" Peter continued. "He became a senior international before he even turned sixteen."
"Unfortunately, his career progression hasn't been smooth sailing since then," Jim Beglin replied.
"He has consistently been shipped out on loan by Real Madrid to find minutes."
Up in the stands among the home supporters, many Norwegian fans groaned in frustration at the wasted chance.
However, Theodore Bjorn's father remained fired up.
He kept shouting his son's name at the top of his lungs, ignoring the grumbles around him.
Not long after, Theodore finally got the chance to showcase his potential.
Another attacking opportunity sparked for Norway.
This time, it came from Markus Henriksen's driving run from the deep. Henriksen, possessing an impressive physical engine, received the ball in the center of the pitch and suddenly accelerated.
His burst of pace immediately drew the panicked attention of multiple Danish defenders, including the tough midfield duo of Lasse Schøne and Delaney.
Faced with a heavy double-team, Henriksen smartly slipped the ball out to Ødegaard on the right flank.
Even though Ødegaard had wasted the previous chance, Henriksen still trusted the playmaker.
Thump!
The ball rolled cleanly into Ødegaard's path.
Naturally, the Danish players didn't hesitate. The full-back, midfielders, and even center-backs began aggressively shifting over to trap Ødegaard against the touchline.
But at that exact moment, Ødegaard faked a dribble and suddenly opted to pass.
Instead of forcing a breakthrough, he cut it inside.
It was the smart decision.
"The ball finds its way to Theodore Bjorn," Peter noted. "One Norwegian wonderkid linking up with the other."
As Peter spoke, Theodore surged forward with the ball.
His pace was sharp.
The Danish player rushing back to mark him happened to be Christian Eriksen. Eriksen does possess some decent defensive work rate, but his tackling skills were hardly sufficient to contain the raging teenager's advance.
Moreover, Theodore knows his own physical strengths well.
The moment Eriksen closed him down, Theodore proactively initiated a shoulder-to-shoulder duel. He fully utilized his raw strength, easily overpowering the Spurs star.
Eriksen was just about to stretch a leg out to intercept, but Theodore dropped his shoulder and knocked the veteran playmaker straight to the turf!
Eriksen's defensive effort failed miserably.
Without missing a beat, Theodore continued driving the ball forward into the danger zone.
"What strength from the teenager!" Peter shouted. "He just bodied Christian Eriksen off the ball! He is built like a tank!"
"That is exactly why he's sitting at the top of the Championship assist charts, Peter," Jim Beglin added. "He is the gritty attacking core of Aston Villa, and if he keeps playing like this, he'll be the core of this Norwegian side too."
As the Sky Sports commentators praised the debutant, Theodore had already carried the ball right to the edge of the penalty arc.
The Danish defenders weren't going to take the Aston Villa starlet lightly.
In an instant, two massive defenders rushed out to close him down.
Andreas Christensen and Stryger Larsen threw themselves at him.
Two fierce, Premier League-level players charging at the 17-year-old simultaneously.
This was exactly the bait Theodore had set.
When the two defenders committed and rushed in front of him, Theodore didn't hesitate for a second.
He quickly slipped the ball back to Ødegaard. Just as Theodore had shaken off Eriksen earlier, Ødegaard had used the distraction to sprint at full speed into the penalty area.
"A brilliant, disguised pass from Theodore Bjorn!" Peter roared. "A superb ball! It lands right in Ødegaard's stride!"
Before Peter could even finish his sentence, Ødegaard took the shot.
He lifted his boot and fired a fierce strike from the right side of the box.
Since the Danish defenders had been dragged out of position by Theodore, Ødegaard had acres of space.
Boom!
The shot was too powerful and too close, Kasper Schmeichel had zero chance to react!
After seeing the net bulge, Ødegaard immediately rushed over to Theodore, grabbing the teenager in a massive hug.
"Fucking brilliant, Theo! I didn't expect your vision to be that sharp!" Ødegaard laughed, genuinely astonished by the perfectly weighted pass.
Although he had heard all the hype coming out of England, to see the 17-year-old provide such a clinical assist in his senior international debut was something else.
Soon, the rest of the Norwegian squad swarmed Theodore to celebrate the equalizer.
Up in the freezing stands of the Ullevaal Stadion, tens of thousands of home fans rose to their feet, giving the debutant a thunderous standing ovation.
Xia Dongguo was losing his mind, his proud cheers echoing loudly over the crowd.
On the Sky Sports broadcast, Peter Drury remarked, "This is exactly what Theodore Bjorn brings to the table, Jim. Give him a fraction of a second, and he will tear through your defense with his vision."
After the restart, Denmark's star man, Christian Eriksen, was furious.
Getting bullied off the ball by a 17-year-old kid had bruised his ego.
He decided it was time to get serious.
In the 30th minute, Eriksen received the ball in the midfield and immediately faced another heavy press from Selnæs and Theodore.
This time, instead of looking for a pass, the Spurs maestro opted to take them on himself.
And he succeeded.
Dropping a nasty feint with his left foot, Eriksen suddenly accelerated, leaving the two Norwegian midfielders scrambling in his wake.