Sixty-two goals in 54 appearances for Norway — Erling Haaland is tearing statistical logic to pieces and outstripping every expectation. The striker is already his country's all-time leading scorer, having wiped out Jorgen Juve's long-standing record. The contrast with his rivals is striking: Kylian Mbappe needed 101 matches to reach 60 international goals, while Haaland got there in just 53. That relentless scoring has now carried over to the World Cup stage, where he struck four times in his first two matches at the tournament.
The high point came in the last-16 clash with Brazil, where Norway beat the five-time champions 2-1. Brazil had the chance to go ahead, but Bruno Guimaraes missed a 12th-minute penalty, and the game turned. Haaland took centre stage from there, his double in the 79th and 90th minutes sealing a historic win. Neymar's stoppage-time penalty could not save Brazil, whose European curse goes on. Remarkably, Brazil have never beaten Norway — the Scandinavians have won three of the five meetings between the sides, a record no other nation can match.
The victory sends Norway into a World Cup quarter-final for the first time in their history, where England await. Brazil, meanwhile, are out at their earliest stage since 1990. Which leaves the big question: how many more records will this unstoppable Norwegian bring down before his debut World Cup is over?
