Erling Haaland has won at the highest level, but one thing was always missing. He explains why the 2026 World Cup means so much.
has just barely kicked off, and we've already seen some iconic moments. The opener between Mexico and South Africa saw three red cards handed out, the most in any World Cup match in 20 years, and a first for an opening game, with El Tri escaping 2-0 in Mexico City.
On the same night, South Korea came from behind to beat Czechia, with Hwang In-Beom and Oh Hyeon-Gyu scoring two second-half goals. On Friday, Canada drew 1-1 with Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto, and the USMNT demolished Paraguay 4-1 in front of more than 70,000 home fans at SoFi Stadium. Over the weekend, Qatar drew even with Switzerland at a last-second equalizer from Boualem Khoukhi, putting all four Group B teams in a deadlock at one point apiece.
Brazil was matched 1-1 by Morocco at MetLife Stadium, Australia upset Turkey 2-0, and Japan pulled off a stunning comeback to tie up the Netherlands in a four-goal thriller. Yet, while the first weekend of the tournament was electric, everybody's still waiting to watch one man play, Erling Haaland.
This will be Norway's first World Cup since 1998, ending a 28-year drought, and for the country's greatest ever striker, he's felt the weight of the moment as Landslaget prepare for their opening match against Iraq on Tuesday, June 16.
"It felt missing in 2022 in Qatar and also in the Euros in 2024," Haaland told ESPN. "So now it finally happened, and it was about time. " He's been carrying the weight of a nation's expectations for years, and with every tournament Norway missed, that weight only got heavier. But what makes this World Cup even more important for his legacy is what it means for the next generation of fans.
Haaland pointed out how he had never watched Norway compete at a World Cup growing up, but he remembers exactly what it felt like watching other stars create iconic moments on the sport's biggest stage. Now he wants to create those moments for Norway's younger fans.
"I never experienced Norway being at a World Cup in my lifetime," Haaland said. "I'm just happy now that we qualified, and all the young Norwegian kids can experience how it is to have their country there ... You have these things that you remember from the World Cup, and hopefully, now we can be a part of these amazing moments. I want to create something special there together with the whole nation, and hopefully we can make that happen.
"Norway is in Group I, and after their match with Iraq on Tuesday, they will face Senegal on Monday, June 22, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, followed by France on Friday, June 26, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The headliner is the France clash with Haaland vs. Mbappe, already marked down as one of the most anticipated group stage matches of the entire tournament.
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