THE LOWDOWN — THE FULL HISTORY
THE RUN
At the 2026 World Cup, Erling Haaland took Norway, at their first World Cup in 28 years, to the quarter-finals with seven goals. He knocked out Brazil with two goals in the last eleven minutes of a 2-1 last-16 win. Norway are the only one of 91 nations Brazil have never beaten.
THE WORLD NOTICED
His Instagram following grew from about 40 million to 72 million during the tournament, the biggest gain of any player there.
MIAMI
In the quarter-final against England, the country he was born in, Norway had a goal ruled out by VAR for a push by Haaland on his new City teammate. His run of 14 straight scoring games for Norway ended, and he was replaced in extra time as Norway lost 2-1.
OSLO
Two days later more than 100,000 people welcomed the team home along Karl Johans gate, with an audience with the King and a Viking row on the palace steps led by the Crown Prince. Haaland missed it: the trip from the US had been delayed four hours and he had a plane to catch. He had gone back to Manchester, to a club without Guardiola.
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THE TERRACES — DISCUSSION
The argument also lives in the YouTube comments ↗.