The man England will fear most – Haaland fires Norway to historyFigure caption, Haaland double fires Norway into World Cup quarter-finalsByAdwaidh RajanBBC Sport journalistPublished6 July 2026, 01:57 BSTUpdated 38 minutes agoErling Haaland’s bobbing blonde hair is usually one of the easiest things to spot on a football pitch. More often than not, it is charging into open space at full tilt, defenders scrambling in pursuit. That was not so much the case on Sunday, but still he scored twice, as Norway beat Brazil 2-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time.
The 25-year-old only had four touches inside the box in the last-16 tie – but with one of them, he broke the deadlock 79 minutes in.
And his second 11 minutes later – a low drive from outside the box – underlined the clinical edge that makes him one of the most feared strikers in world football as he moved level with France’s Kylian Mbappe and Argentina’s Lionel Messi at the top of the Golden Boot standings with seven goals.
“You don’t see any other player doing that,” former Scotland winger Pat Nevin called the winning goal on BBC Radio 5 Live. “There was not a chance there. There wasn’t a half chance, quarter chance. Nothing.”
“People constantly talk about how many touches he has,” mentioned former England striker Ian Wright on ITV. “He didn’t have to have a lot of touches.”
Haaland’s goals meant Norway sealed a historic victory over the South Americans.
Competing at a World Cup for the first time since 1998, Stale Solbakken’s side now stand just three wins away from an unlikely world title with England to come next after they beat Mexico 3-2 in a thrilling last-16 encounter.
But with gamechanger Haaland in their ranks, Norway will believe anything is possible.
“He has given the whole country belief that they can go really far in this competition,” mentioned Wayne Rooney on BBC One.
