Manchester City star Erling Haaland is starring for Norway at the World Cup as Roy Keane changes his tune on the player
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - JULY 5: Erling Haaland #9 of Norway leads the Viking Row Celebration with teammates and supporters following the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round Of 16 football match between Brazil and Norway at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 5, 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
Erling Haaland starred for Norway against Brazil
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How many touches did he have though? Why isn't he involved more when he doesn't have the ball? When will he turn up in a big game?
From the moment Erling Haaland started scoring goals at a phenomenal rate, people started looking for ways to discredit him. It's not a personal thing - although moving to Manchester City did not make him more likable to many fans around the world - but it is human nature to try to put down people who are the very best in the world at such a popular game.
Haaland arrived at City with mainstream pundits waiting to bring him down. Four months before he won the Treble after scoring 52 goals in all competition, Jamie Carragher said that he had joined the wrong club and wasn't giving everything he could.
Two years ago, months before City won their fourth Premier League title in a row after a season where Haaland scored 38 goals, Roy Keane likened his general play (outside of goalscoring, as if the two can be detached) to a player in the English fourth division. The former United captain struck a very different tone as Haaland's sixth and seventh goals of the World Cup helped Norway to knock out Brazil to reach the World Cup quarter-finals - the furthest they have ever gone in their first outing at the tournament since 1998.
"It's like what we said with (Harry) Kane and England, you know these guys are going to turn up," said Keane. "He's not done it at the World Cup because he's not played in a World Cup but there's no doubt he was going to do the business. That's what he does. Amazing. The stats...
"And he's also become more of a leader as well I think. He's obviously matured in the last year or two, his all-round play, and that goal threat is always there."
That U-turn from Keane deserves to be savoured, yet it is all the more striking given there were doubts over what Haaland would do at this tournament. He wasn't brilliant in the second half of last season by his own standards and his record at neutral venues with City is astonishingly poor: nine finals, zero goals.
After this summer though, nobody can accuse Haaland of not being a player for the biggest stage. Seven goals (at least) in a World Cup is a dream, and means he stands level with Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi while playing for a team with nowhere near the history or quality of France or Argentina; Haaland's hauls have lifted Norway up to one of the best eight national sides in the game ahead of a mouth-watering quarter-final with England.
Having monstered Gabriel again to dump Brazil out, Haaland is also silencing those last remaining critics that refused to accept the 25-year-old is a generational talent who will go down as one of the greatest to have played the game.
The striker joked about Ibiza final boss on Snapchat after knocking out Brazil. There can be no more critics for Haaland to answer after making more history this summer.