After enjoying a flawless qualification campaign, Norway punched their tickets to the 2026 World Cup, making it to world football’s biggest and most prestigious tournament for only the fourth time in their history.
Blessed with what many consider to be the best-ever squad their national team has ever assembled, Norway were considered strong dark horse candidates heading into the tournament. The remarkable goalscoring talents of superstar striker Erling Haaland is a major reason for that.
In the buildup to this summer’s World Cup, many expected Haaland to enjoy success in his country’s colours, and he has lived up to every bit of the hype surrounding him. Currently, he is joint second in the goalscoring charts with seven goals to his name.
His most recent strikes came as Norway faced off against the most decorated nation in World Cup history, Brazil, in the Round of 16. Though many fans and experts predicted the Canarinho to advance, Erling Haaland flipped the script with a late brace.
He scored his first in the 79th minute, getting the better of familiar foe Gabriel in the air to break the deadlock with a bullet header, before doubling his money with a powerful low drive in the 90th minute.
While much can be said about his commendable goalscoring exploits, Erling Haaland also made waves with his celebration after the opening goal.
While Haaland walked to the corner flag to celebrate, Andreas Schjelderup, who supplied him with the cross to head home, joined in by jumping on his back. A few seconds later, another one of Norway’s wingers, Oscar Bobb, added to the load on Haaland’s back by jumping on top of Schjelderup.
Much to the surprise of fans keeping up with the action in the stadium and on TV, however, the big striker simply kept walking without a second’s pause, seemingly unfazed by the weight on his back.
According to estimates, Andreas Schjelderup weighs about 73 kg (161 lbs), while Oscar Bobb weighs 72 kg (159 lbs). This means that the combined weight of the pair is about 145 kg, roughly 320 lbs.
Haaland himself reportedly weighs about 95 kg (210 lbs), which means he was carrying about one and a half times his own body weight on his back.
While this in itself is a marker of superb fitness levels, the feat looks even more impressive when considering the fact that he did this after playing for 79 minutes in one of the biggest games of his career so far.
After getting the better of Brazil, the mood in the Norwegian camp will undoubtedly be one of celebration. However, they cannot afford to reminisce on past victories for two long, as a stern challenge awaits them in the quarter-finals.
For their next fixture, Norway head to Miami to take on England, who are coming off a huge win of their own, having put in a statement performance at the Estadio Azteca to send co-hosts Mexico packing.
England have an extremely well-rounded team full of elite Premier League talent, and Norway will be counting on Erling Haaland to be at his best once again, as they hope to extend their dream run at this summer’s World Cup.
