If there’s a stage that’s too huge for Erling Haaland, we’re but to search out it.
A hat-trick on his Champions League debut for RB Salzburg, a hat-trick on his Bundesliga debut for Dortmund, a double on his Premier League debut for Manchester Metropolis, and now two targets on his World Cup finals debut, inspiring Norway to a 4-1 win over Iraq.
The 2026 World Cup could be six days in, nevertheless it felt as if it actually started on Tuesday, with Kylian Mbappe inspiring France to a 3-1 victory over Senegal with two very good targets which made him Les Bleus’ all-time main scorer.
Little over an hour later, Haaland strode out for his first World Cup look and picked up the gauntlet thrown by Mbappe, almost 18 months his senior, with a show stuffed with want, in addition to the targets we have now come to anticipate.
Norway supervisor Stale Solbakken stated afterwards: “You possibly can see he lived as much as the event – it wasn’t too huge for him.
“I had a great feeling earlier than the sport, the final coaching session was superb. I had a sense he would do it for us immediately.”
Iraq head coach Graham Arnold added: “He is simply a tremendous quantity 9. We handled him fairly properly for lots of the sport [but] on the finish of the day he is a prime striker.
“Norway may shock lots of people with the group they’ve. They may go a really good distance.”
Arnold spoke to Haaland after the ultimate whistle and revealed: “I simply stated to him: ‘You are the most effective quantity nines I’ve ever seen.’ He is so sturdy, so fast and he is simply deadly.”
