Erling Haaland said Norway must be realistic about what they can achieve at the Fifa World Cup 2026 after qualifying for the Round of 32 on Tuesday morning with a 3-2 win over Senegal.
Haaland followed up his brace in the opening 4-1 victory over Iran with two more goals as Norway won consecutive games at the World Cup for the first time.
Norway have lost just one of their past 18 matches and will take on 2022 runners-up France in Boston on Friday to determine the winners of Group I. However, Haaland cautioned against getting carried away after the team’s strong start to their first World Cup since 1998.
“To qualify for the first time in 28 years and going through the group stage I would say, yes. To win the World Cup, absolutely not,” said Haaland. “We’ve won 12 competitive games in a row now. I’m part of something special, making history, and I’m extremely proud to be Norwegian.”
In this tournament, the Manchester City striker is level with Kylian Mbappé on four goals and one behind Lionel Messi, who has netted all five of Argentina’s goals at the tournament so far and in the process has become the World Cup’s highest scorer in history with 18 goals. Haaland meanwhile took his international tally to a remarkable 59 goals in 52 games.
“I think it’s my speciality, to score goals,” said Haaland. “It’s like many other things, I’m just really good at scoring goals and I’m quite lucky. I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s just how it is.”
Senegal coach Pape Thiaw must hold out hope his team can beat Iraq in their final game to have a chance of reaching the knockout phase.
“A tough match against a team that caused us problems; they were very clinical and scored two goals at the worst possible times,” said Thiaw. “After the first goal we regrouped, but we conceded a second. We have to encourage the players because it’s not easy.
“We need to focus on this last match and give everything to get the three points and keep hoping. It’s difficult, but we’re not dead yet.” | AFP
