The Erling Haaland transformation driving Norway’s historic World Cup campaign | OneFootball

When Norway posed for perhaps the most iconic picture any squad managed before the World Cup, paying tribute to their ancestors’ seafaring past, one player looked still better suited to the Viking warrior’s garb than the rest. Perhaps it was Erling Haaland’s height, or his long blond locks. He seemed dressed to terrorise; although, that said, he often does in the distinctly modern sky-blue shirt of Manchester City as well.

But, a thousand years after exiles from Norway – in their case via Greenland and Iceland – became the first Europeans to land in North America, there have been some Viking raids up and down the east coast. Norway marked victory in New York by mimicking their forebears; rowing, that least glamorous of sports, has rarely been part of footballing celebrations before. Norway are drawing inspiration from their past.

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Erling Haaland has scored four goals in two World Cup matches to send Norway into the last-32 (Getty)

Haaland’s past consisted of watching others on this stage. He had to wait until he was 25 to play in a major tournament; indeed, until this month, Alf Inge Haaland had played in a World Cup and Erling had not. The son has announced his arrival in style. Haaland has two goals apiece against Iraq and Senegal. He is playing catch-up in some respects, debuting in a World Cup years after his peers. He is keeping up in another, setting the same pace as Kylian Mbappe. A top scorer battle is raging within the same group. The Frenchman is the likelier Golden Boot winner but partly because his country should go further. “They should probably win the entire tournament,” said a blunt Haaland.

But Haaland is making history: less in the context of the Vikings than of the Norwegian national team. He already has more World Cup goals than any other Norwegian man ever. For almost a century, their record scorer was Jorgen Juve, who played his last game in 1937. Haaland careered to a half-century of international goals at a rate of better than one a game. His tally now stands at 59 in 52.

In qualifying, he got a freakish 16 in eight; double what anyone else in Europe mustered. Five came in one match against Moldova, taking goal difference out of the equation. Three came over the course of two wins against Italy which upturned the usual order.

But that is what Haaland is: a disruptor who has disturbed the usual pecking order. He is flying in the face of Norway’s history. In their previous tournaments, they were short of goals; indeed, in the last World Cup in the United States, they exited a group when all four teams had the same points total and goal difference on goals scored. Norway only got one.

Only Kjetil Rekdal had even scored twice in World Cups until Haaland did so; and then again for good measure. Iraq goalkeeper Jalal Hassan was sufficiently intimidated by the sight of him to in effect allow himself to be tackled into conceding a goal. A brilliant finish against Senegal showed the huge physique is allied with considerable talent.

And considerable ambition. “To take Norway to the World Cup, this is my main goal in my career,” he said in November. He has done that, has taken them into the last 32 and may yet take them further. But the emphasis was instructive in itself. Haaland still has eight years left on his City contract, they have won the league in neither of the last two and Pep Guardiola has left. If some of Haaland’s fulfilment comes from his country, that could also benefit a club in a time of transition.

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Haaland is seemingly driven by achieving something special with his Norwegian teammates (Getty)

He has started to offer echoes of Gareth Bale, driving a smaller nation onwards, seemingly buoyed by the camaraderie with his compatriots, rather than finding fault with lesser talents who would not get near his club team. The world’s outstanding players are not guaranteed to come from the footballing superpowers; Haaland is addressing some of the imbalances of the international game with sheer weight of goals.

The sense he has a cause is also part of a personal evolution. For years, he was deemed purely a goalscorer, damned by his lack of touches otherwise. Now he has a talismanic feel: he has taken to heading away corners for City. He can rampage around the pitch for a collective good.

It threatens to carry Norway some way; perhaps to a last-16 tie with Brazil, who they beat in 1998. Before then, there is a game that will be billed as Mbappe against Haaland. It can be framed as a contest to see who is the world’s best striker. But normally when they face off, it is Real Madrid against City. France against Norway can look a less even contest. But this Norway, Haaland’s Norway, are different from their predecessors.