Erling Haaland: the smiling Viking superstar seeking to topple England

{"text":[[{"start":8.75,"text":"Norway’s Erling Haaland is slouching, head down, around the field against Brazil. It’s the biggest match in Norwegian football history, but he is trying to look uninterested, like a hungover Viking giant waiting for a bus. "}],[{"start":22.55,"text":"When a teammate advances down the wing, he starts a slow jog. The cross comes in, and in a sudden frenzy of power and finesse, Norway’s first ever great footballer speeds in, jumps and heads it into the net. His two goals defeated Brazil, granting Norway their first ever World Cup quarter-final against England in Miami on Saturday. Thanks to Haaland, the country of 5.6mn people has an outside shot at becoming world champions."}],[{"start":52.3,"text":"The last major tournament that Norway even qualified for was Euro 2000. Days after it ended, Haaland was born in Leeds, England. His father Alfie Haaland, a midfielder with Leeds United, had then just signed for Manchester City. Erling’s sporting genealogy is extensive, writes his biographer Lars Sivertsen. His mother was a champion heptathlete, his grandmother and great-grandmother set local athletics records, and a great-uncle played football for Norway."}],[{"start":85.19999999999999,"text":"Months after Erling’s birth, his dad’s right knee was injured in a terrible tackle by Manchester United’s Roy Keane. It’s unclear whether that is what ended Alfie’s career but he never played another full match. The family returned to the small Norwegian town of Bryne, where Erling played football not in some elite academy but with local kids of varying abilities — good preparation for playing for Norway."}],[{"start":108.99999999999999,"text":"Aged 18, he announced, “From an early age, I’ve told myself I’m going to become the best footballer in the world.” “Not a very Norwegian thing to say,” notes Sivertsen."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":118.69999999999999,"text":"Normal-sized until his late teens, Haaland had to beat older boys, and later men, through skill, brain and well-timed runs. Then he shot up to 6ft 4in and 88kg. He is faster than a giant should feasibly be. Bleach-white and almost without visible facial hair, he resembles an enormous baby, or, in the eyes of opponents, the monster in a horror movie. "}],[{"start":144,"text":"He’s a natural who also works nonstop. “I think about football all the time,” Haaland has said. “I sit at home every day waiting for the next training session, the next game.” Through daily extra training, he went from being a giant who couldn’t head to winning 78 per cent of his aerial duels at this tournament, the best for any striker since World Cup records began in 1966. "}],[{"start":167.85,"text":"He reads scientific articles to optimise his sleep and diet, wears goggles in the evening to block blue light, and meditates to eliminate negative thoughts, writes Sivertsen. In the pre-recorded video shown on World Cup stadium screens when Haaland scores, he does a lotus pose. There is a genre of social media videos of him munching carrots — which, in his goofy Gen Z version of masculinity, he holds in his mouth like cigars."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":195.6,"text":"His scoring prowess may be unique. As a teenager, he scored a first-half hat-trick on his Champions League debut, and another in 20 minutes on debut for Borussia Dortmund. With 62 goals in 54 internationals, he is averaging nearly twice as many goals per game, for tiny Norway, than Leo Messi (125 in 204 games) for Argentina. Even counting Messi’s many assists, Haaland still has more total “goal contributions” per game. He has scored in his last 14 competitive internationals, beating German striker Gerd Müller’s record."}],[{"start":231.35,"text":"But this superstar remains an egalitarian Norwegian. Where most footballers cannot bridge the chasm that separates them from ordinary mortals, Haaland has always treated others as equals. "}],[{"start":242.85,"text":"When he left Dortmund for his dad’s old club Manchester City in 2022, he gave personally engraved watches to 20 Dortmund staff members. He explained: “To the physios who have massaged my feet every damned day for two and a half years. To the people who washed my clothes every day, made my food every day . . . I thought it was cool, and they deserved it.” Other players dump used training tops on the ground, but Haaland delivers his neatly folded to the kitman.      "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":273.35,"text":"He is always hugging supporters. When an Iraqi player marking him during a group game was incredulous at encountering a superhero in real life, Haaland embraced him too. "}],[{"start":283.95000000000005,"text":"After victory over Brazil, Haaland thumped a drum on the field while Norway’s players and fans performed their “Viking Row” ritual together, in a tableau of Norwegian egalitarianism. Uncharacteristically, he addressed his nation: “It’s one of the most insane days in Norwegian history. Just enjoy it.”"}],[{"start":302.65000000000003,"text":"He takes his egalitarianism on to the field, too. He accepts his Norwegian teammates cannot supply him with frequent chances. He also knows opponents will build their entire game plan around stopping him. Brazil’s two centre-backs spent most of the match guarding an almost stationary Haaland, allowing his teammates to dominate the flanks. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":322.8,"text":"Brazil’s coach Carlo Ancelotti observed afterwards: “He doesn’t waste energy chasing every ball or wrestling defenders for 90 minutes. He studies them, he waits, he understands exactly when a defender loses concentration. Then, in one second, he’s gone . . . football is decided by moments, and [Haaland] is probably the best in the world at recognising those moments.” "}],[{"start":344.6,"text":"Haaland remarked: “If I receive one or two chances, they usually end up in a goal. I don’t really know what I do; this is just the way I am.” He has seven goals in this tournament, averaging one for every 14 touches of the ball — the best ratio for anyone who scored at least three at a World Cup since 1966.  "}],[{"start":363.05,"text":"In a telling video from Norway’s dressing room after the Brazil game, the exhausted coach Ståle Solbakken addresses the players: “What can I say? The greatest thing ever in Norwegian football history. Maybe in all Norwegian sports.” Then Haaland walks in, and his teammates break into a cheer for him, sounding just like fans. Haaland, as usual, grins but says nothing."}],[{"start":386.65000000000003,"text":"He enjoys football — not all players do. He’ll enjoy playing against his country of birth, England. (He does a mean Yorkshire accent.) But surely even Haaland can’t win Norway the World Cup?"}],[{"start":397.40000000000003,"text":"Data visualisation by Dan Clark "}],[{"start":406.85,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783767732_5331.mp3"}