Haaland relishes Norway's incredible historic victory in

Erling Haaland qualified Norway for the next round of the 2026 World Cup by scoring the winning goal against Ivory Coast (2-1) at Dallas Stadium, giving the Scandinavians their first ever success in the knockout phase of a World Cup. Having become a national legend, Haaland scored in the 86th minute after a tight encounter where Antonio Nusa opened the scoring for Norway and Amad Diallo responded for the Ivorians.

Haaland's goal liberated a Norwegian team that had already achieved the feat of emerging from a group and progressing through a World Cup round of knockout matches for the first time. The statistical system of the match reveals a slight Norwegian superiority in terms of expected goals (xG): 1.90 against 1.49 for Ivory Coast, despite an imbalance in attempts and offensive presence, with 14 shots and 48 touches in the area for the Ivorians compared to nine shots and 26 touches in the area for Norway.

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Haaland, already on an impressive run, has scored in each of his last 13 competitive international matches for Norway, netting 25 goals in that span – his personal tally now stands at 60 goals in 53 caps. After the meeting, the striker expressed his emotion: “It’s history, it has an incredible effect. We managed to qualify after 28 years, get out of the group stage and now move on to face Brazil in New York. It’s amazing, now everything is a bonus. We can play relaxed and enjoy it, because I don't think we'll have that feeling again. » (comments reported by FIFA).

Coach Ståle Solbakken praised the opposition's performance while believing his team had been slightly better: “I think it was a very balanced match. They are two good teams and it could have gone either way, but we finished strong and managed to come back after the 1-1. They had some good chances late in the match, but overall I think we were maybe a little better than them. Congratulations to Ivory Coast who played a very good match. This is the first time for Norway that we have won in the knockout phase, we will have to accept that. Now we can rest a little and prepare for Brazil. » (comments reported by FIFA).

The rest immediately promises to be more difficult: Norway will face Brazil in the next round, a very high-level meeting which will take place in New York. For the Norwegian selection and its star scorer, the apparent pressure gives way to the desire to savor a historic day for the country's football.