Nearly 1.5 million Norwegians stayed up late Tuesday night to watch their national football team run over Iraq’s in its opening match at the World Cup in Boston. Once again, it was Norwegian superstar Erling Braut Haaland who stole the show, like he has so many times before.
The match didn’t start until midnight in Norway, but Norwegian football fans in bars, outdoor arenas and living rooms all over the country were up and watching. Drinking, too, since Norway’s strict alcohol rules have been controversially loosened up for as long as the World Cup runs. Norway’s next match against Senegal won’t begin until 2am, local time, but the beer is bound to be flowing then, too.
All this comes in addition to the thousands who could afford tickets and flew to the US to see Norway live in action. Tuesday night’s match took place in Boston, and among the Norwegian fans in the stadium was Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. They could all see their team get off to a dream start at Norway’s first World Cup in 28 years.
Haaland scored twice in the match, Leo Skiri Østigård scored once and then Iraq’s Ali Hussein sent the ball into Iraq’s own goal after earlier tying Haaland’s first. Even he was full of praise for Haaland, telling reporters afterwards that “we all know how good Haaland is, also the rest of the Norwegian team, but it’s his quality that gave them the first two goals.” Iraq’s own head coach, Graham Arnold, also shook Haaland’s hand on the field right after the match ended with a final 4-1 score in Norway’s favour.
“I wanted to tell him that he’s the best striker I’ve ever seen,” Arnold told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) afterwards. “He is strong and creative, so I wanted to congratulate him.”
Haaland himself seemed to take it all in stride, and graciously, afterwards, and he doesn’t even seem to mind how almost all non-Norwegians mispronounce his last name (it’s “Hoe-lahnd,” not “Holland”). His teammates were as complimentary as everyone else, with team captain Martin Ødegaard (who plays professionally for Arsenal in London) telling NRK that Haaland “was very good again. It’s fantastic having him on the team … he’s always where he should be.”
Norway’s head coach Ståle Solbakken, who has played in the World Cup himself, thinks Haaland is the best scorer in the world. Haaland begged to differ: “Statistically I’m not,” he told NRK. “Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé have scored more goals than me this season.” Teammate Antonio Nusa thinks Haaland is at least the best striker, while Sander Berge stresses at the same time that Haaland remains relaxed until the whistle blows at the start of a match, “and you can see how hungry he is. He delivers every time.”
His performance Tuesday night helped send Norway, at least temporarily, to the top of its group that includes Iraq, Senegal and France. Solbakken gave the team two days off before training begins again for the match against Senegal on June 23, when Norway will also be celebrating Sankthansaften, the Norwegian equivalent of Midsummer Eve. The match against France is set for June 26.
Earlier criticism of all the money, commercialization and even Viking gimmicks tied to the World Cup seemed to be forgotten, also that Haaland himself tops the list over the most highly paid football stars in the world. Now the mantra in Norway is again Alt for Norge (Everything for Norway, roughly translated). There’s even talk of building a new national football stadium to replace the 25,000-seat Ullevaal, which was filled up Tuesday night with fans watching the action from Boston on screens. Haaland told NRK he just wants the team to be prepared to meet Senegal: “We have to improve ourselves and be better at various things.”
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
