Haaland Leads Norway to World Cup Qualification with Historic Performance

In a thrilling encounter, Erling Haaland demonstrated his prowess during Norway’s match against Italy, ultimately securing the team’s qualification for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1998. The Norwegians knew that a heavy defeat was the only scenario that could jeopardize their spot in the tournament.

Haaland played a pivotal role in Norway’s convincing 4-1 victory, finding the net in the 78th minute before adding two more goals within just over a minute. Italy’s attempts to provoke him backfired, as they fueled the motivation of a player who thrives on challenges.

The tension escalated when Haaland was confronted by Gianluca Mancini, leading to a heated exchange in the Italian penalty area. A visibly agitated Haaland had to be restrained by his club teammate, Gianluigi Donnarumma, to prevent a direct confrontation with Mancini.

Reflecting on the incident during a post-match interview with Norwegian television, Haaland recounted, “At 1-1, he started grabbing my ass, and I thought, ‘what are you doing?’ So I fired myself up a bit and said to him, ‘thanks a lot for the motivation, let’s f*cking have it.’ Then I scored two goals, we win 4-1, so that’s great. Thanks to him!”

Haaland opened the scoring with a stunning volley and later capitalized on a defensive mistake. Jorgen Strand Larsen, a forward for Wolves, capped off the scoring with a goal in stoppage time, ensuring that Stale Solbakken’s squad qualified for the World Cup in style.

Concluding the qualifying phase with an extraordinary tally of 16 goals across eight matches, Haaland equaled Robert Lewandowski’s record for the most goals in this context. Norway achieved maximum points from all eight fixtures, leaving Italy to settle for second place and face the play-offs, following previous near-misses in similar scenarios for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Haaland is set to participate in his first major international tournament, having matched the all-time record for consecutive international matches scored in. He has found the back of the net in his last 11 appearances for Norway, a streak that began on November 14, 2024, during a 4-1 victory over Slovenia. Remarkably, Norway has won all 11 matches in which he has scored, although he did not play in a recent friendly against New Zealand.

His achievement ties him with Abdul Ghani Minhat of Malaysia, who scored in 11 consecutive games from May 28, 1961, to August 28, 1962. This record has been verified by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).

The exceptional standards set by Haaland are further accentuated when compared to the goal-scoring streaks of legends like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Ronaldo has scored in six consecutive matches on two occasions, while Messi’s best run was eight successive goals.

This season, Haaland boasts a remarkable total of 32 goals in just 20 appearances for club and country, with only two matches where he failed to score, against Tottenham and Aston Villa in the Premier League. He is not expected to represent Norway again until the next international break in March 2026, where he may continue his impressive scoring run into the World Cup finals, marking Norway’s first appearance in a tournament since Euro 2000.