Erling Haaland is Norway’s humble hero – and England might not be able to stop him | OneFootball

There have been a few times at Norway’s World Cup base in North Carolina when Erling Haaland has noticed kids playing football nearby, often in a World Cup shirt or a club like Manchester City. In other words, they’d know who he was, they just didn’t know he was there. Haaland would then kick a ball back, to the absolute delight of the children. Some joked they still showed better awareness than Gabriel, beaten in the air by his Premier League rival for the opener against Brazil.

The two scenes sum up Haaland’s World Cup so far. Off the pitch, a childlike joy. On it, a shark-like seriousness.

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Erling Haaland cuts a chilled figure when not in action (Getty)

The England players have already noticed a shift in their own camp, from just having to face the Norwegian. Because, ahead of every game so far, Thomas Tuchel’s tactical emphasis has been on ensuring Harry Kane can do as much damage as possible. Now, there’s naturally as much focus on preventing Haaland from doing any damage at all.

It’s all the more important when a characteristic of England’s campaign has been either Kane or Jude Bellingham scoring two in a game, but the defence proving just as susceptible to conceding two.

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Haaland has proved unstoppable and inevitable at this World Cup (Getty)

Tuchel’s backline have had to cover a lot of gaps, and there is no one as good as Haaland at exploiting such openings. It’s his whole game.

The threat is all the greater since the 25-year-old is duly the first of the World Cup’s big stars that England have faced, and there’s an argument he is the gravitational centre of this quarter-final.

England are the better team but now have to adapt their approach around Haaland, while he’s naturally central to everything Norway do.

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Haaland is central to everything that Norway do (Getty)

That isn’t necessarily with the ball, mind. As one Premier League coach puts it, “he’s not just going to get it and nutmeg you, before putting it in the top corner”, in the way Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe can.

If their threat comes from being able to do everything, Haaland’s is from appearing to do nothing. Just look at that header against Brazil. He was walking, idling and then suddenly powering through. it was a lesson in instinct and calculation.

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Erling Haaland overpowered Gabriel in Norway's win over Brazil (Getty)

Haaland’s immense size, something all the more conspicuous in a week when US soccer has been obsessed with misplaced debate about “athletes”, belies the fact his impact comes from being unnoticed.

There is actually an element of the five-foot-nine Gerd Muller about the six-foot-four berserker.

The England players know this, of course. All of them have played against him. John Stones, Marc Guehi and Bellingham have played with him.

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John Stones could come up against ex-Manchester City teammate Erling Haaland (Getty)

The challenge for Tuchel and his staff is to come up with a different tactical approach, in a different setting.

They may also be playing a different Haaland. England are used to the 25-year-old in a setting where he’s surrounded by other great talents. With Norway, great friend Martin Odegaard aside, Haaland is the talent.

That plays into another twist on his World Cup. Haaland is the only one of these stars who plays at a much higher level than the majority of his teammates. Usually in such situations, as with Gareth Bale and Wales – or, maybe more appropriately for a World Cup, Bulgaria and Hristo Stoichkov – you need your main man to do more.

Haaland’s qualities instead require his teammates to do more.

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Martin Odegaard is Norway's other star player (Getty)

That nevertheless feeds into the culture of this Norway team, that the 25-year-old has absolutely embraced. It would be easy for Haaland to “be a selfish bastard”, in the words of one squad insider. He’s that good, that famous. The staff from one prominent World Cup country still roll their eyes at the amount of demands from one megastar when they travelled, as if he was a rock star with a rider.

There’s none of that with Haaland. He’s instead made a joke out of it all. One recent video – of many – showed the squad mocking him for his choice at a deli, only for the striker to drop a deadpan line about all the goals he scores for them. It was entirely self-effacing.

Through moments like that and pretending to a local elderly lady that Norway’s social media man was “the big star”, Haaland has not just enchanted their Greensboro community, but also the entire World Cup.

He is the “loveable doofus”, while posing a danger that every team hates to face.

Haaland is, consequently, “one of the lads”. And yet such a simple line has a wider significance, that even US sports have picked up on.

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Erling Haaland does not appear to have an inflated ego (Reuters)

As well as being unique as a footballer, Haaland is a product of Norway’s national philosophy of idrettsglede - the joy of sport. The idea isn’t just to ruthlessly develop winners, but for winning to be an evolution of the idea of sport as a social good, encouraging collectivism and health; the pursuit of happiness, if you like.

And yet still Norway produces this killer of a striker. He also typifies the national culture in how he is this big star willingly in the middle of it all, polite to everyone. Federation staff note how he hasn’t forgotten his roots, with his prankster nature playing into the feeling of “a group of friends travelling for a youth tournament” - but still very serious during training.

Haaland is also admirably aware of something bigger there, too. After the win over Brazil, he spoke of wanting to inspire kids to dream of playing for the national team, to create moments in the history of your country.

That was seen as all the more significant given how it was really the big clubs - and especially the big English clubs - that dominated the aspirations of any young Norwegian for most of Haaland’s life.

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Haaland is carrying the burden of a nation (Getty)

Everyone is still aware of the striker’s own heightened status, of course. You couldn’t but be. Teammates approach him for advice, and they all gave him a standing ovation after the win over Brazil.

He also relishes that responsibility, of stepping up for the team.

Now, Tuchel has the responsibility of figuring out how to stop him scoring. There is an awareness it’s impossible to fully nullify him.

As one coach says: “You just have to accept he’s going to get into the area and gets shots off; you just have to ensure those shots are under pressure”.

The strategy is instead to cut off supply. The England staff have also noticed how Haaland’s very conspicuousness works in another way.

Defenders “freak out” at marking him, feeling they have to double up. They then find they’ve doubled up on almost nothing, as Haaland does little apart from score, but other players have suddenly created that chance. This was the winning of the game against Brazil: Norway saw the space to create triangles out wide, allowing Haaland to find a way through.

The return of Reece James will be all the more important, since he offers a robustness England need. Tuchel has also been considering Stones, since he knows Haaland so well.

And yet, you can do all that, develop sophisticated structures to crowd the space around Haaland, and he’s still through with one bounce.

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Erling Haaland may prove impossible to stop (AP)

Humble off the pitch, arrogant on it, Haaland carries the air of a man who is all too aware of that. Teammates noted how the celebration against Brazil said it all. He didn’t abandon himself to the national euphoria. He acted as if it was inevitable.

Or, as one of his camp colleagues put it, “don’t f*** with Norway”.

That’s how he most enjoys himself within this team.