Erling Haaland has added another two goals to his FIFA World Cup tally with a brace against Senegal on Monday night to progress into the tournament’s knockout stages.
Norway secured their spot in the World Cup last 32 with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Senegal in New Jersey, maintaining a perfect start to their Group I campaign alongside France.
In a somewhat scrappy first half, Stale Solbakken’s side found the breakthrough via full-back Marcus Pedersen, who entered the fray as an early substitute and ruthlessly punished a poor clearance from Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly.
The clinical Erling Haaland then took complete control in the 48th minute, latching onto a defence-splitting through ball from Martin Ødegaard to double the advantage, scoring his third goal of the tournament and officially becoming Norway’s outright all-time top scorer in World Cup history.
Senegal responded with resilience, fighting back when Crystal Palace winger Ismaïla Sarr pulled a goal back to momentarily jeopardise Norway’s dominance. However, Haaland restored the two-goal cushion five minutes later, displaying poise to side-foot a controlled volley in off the crossbar.
The vital strike extended the Manchester City forward’s astonishing international scoring streak to 12 consecutive competitive matches for his country, while remarkably registering a brace in each of his last six outings.
Though a relentless Sarr struck deep into injury time to set up a frantic finish, he agonisingly headed a golden, last-second equaliser over the crossbar, leaving Senegal empty-handed and needing a big victory over Iraq in their group finale to stand any chance of qualification.
Erling Haaland match statistics vs Senegal
90 Minutes
2 Goals
23 Touches
6 Accurate Passes
55% Pass Accuracy
9 Touches In Opposition Box
4 Aerial Duels Won
3 Shots On Target
2 Chances Created
1 Recovery
1 Hit Woodwork
1 Big Chance Missed
1 Big Chance Created
1 Pass Into Final Third
Data courtesy of FotMob.