The Erling Haaland World Cup debut was everything football fans waited 10,220 days to witness and it delivered two goals and a performance that announced Norway as a genuine threat in this tournament. A 4-1 victory over Iraq sent a message and Haaland was the author and the messenger and the headline all at once. Kylian Mbappe had lit up the day earlier with two superb goals that made him France all time leading scorer against Senegal. Haaland strode out a little over an hour later and picked up the gauntlet without flinching.
He had fewer touches in the first half than any other player on the pitch and just eleven. It did not matter. He slid in to stab home David Moller Wolfe teasing cross from the left just before the half hour mark and Norway first World Cup finals goal in nearly three decades was finally on the board. The last time Norway scored on this stage was in 1998 and that happened 759 days before Haaland was even born. The moment demanded someone who would not shrink and Haaland has never been accused of that.
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Iraq pulled level briefly with a towering Aymen Hussein header that carried more than a touch of Haaland about it. The response from the Manchester City striker was immediate and ruthless. He chased down a backpass and charged an attempted clearance from keeper Jalal Hassan straight into the net. It was the kind of goal that comes from desire rather than design and it broke Iraq resistance for good. A hat trick looked inevitable and he was denied by a late block and a looping header bundled over the line by Hussein but the damage was already done.
Norway manager Stale Solbakken said afterwards that Haaland lived up to the occasion and that the stage was not too big for him. He had a good feeling before the match and the last training session convinced him Haaland would deliver. Iraq head coach Graham Arnold called him one of the best number nines he has ever seen and told Haaland exactly that after the final whistle. He said Norway could shock a lot of people and go a very long way in this tournament.
The Erling Haaland World Cup debut puts him at 57 goals in 51 appearances for his country. His goals per game ratio exceeds all time greats like Gerd Muller and Sandor Kocsis and ranks third best of any player to score at least 50 international goals. Former England striker Ellen White said he wants to be top scorer in this tournament and former Wales defender Ashley Williams pointed to his leadership and his willingness to do the ugly work. The criticism that Haaland sometimes drifts quiet for Manchester City did not apply here. He drove Norway forward and looked like a man who understood what it meant to carry a nation back to the World Cup after an absence that spanned an entire generation. The next opponents will not sleep easy knowing what is coming.
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