Erling Haaland stood on the pitch in Dallas, a goofy grin across his face and a Viking helmet atop his head at a jaunty angle. He was drinking it all in.

Norway had just beaten Ivory Coast 2-1, their first knockout victory in World Cup history. It was celebrated by players and fans joining together in their now Iconic Viking Row celebration – conducted by Martin Odegaard on the drum.

And, of course, Haaland had scored the winner. It was hardly his best international goal – a scuff off his instep from Patrick Berg’s pull-back that Ivorian keeper Yaya Fofana nearly grabbed off the line – but it is his most important.

Norway became the first European side to reach the last 16, succeeding where Germany and the Netherlands failed. It matches their best World Cup showing, achieved 28 years ago in their last finals appearance in 1998. They face Brazil next, in what could prove a blockbuster.

For Haaland, it means his eye-popping international scoring record now features a goal of real substance to go alongside the five strikes against Moldova and another five hat-tricks versus Romania, Kazakhstan and Gibraltar among others.

Haaland has now scored 60 goals in 53 senior internationals – averaging a goal every 72 minutes – but the first 55 had not come in a major tournament with Norway having previously failed to qualify for any during his lifetime.

But, at the 2026 World Cup, Haaland has delivered on the big stage with five goals in three appearances – only Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have more in North America – and based on his huge smile on the pitch in Dallas and his light-hearted social media misadventures off it, it is a stage on which he is thriving.

“Norway are a very good team, and purely because of that man,” said former England captain turned BBC pundit Wayne Rooney. “Because of his goals, he has proven that he belongs at this World Cup level.

“He is just devastating. He wasn’t in the game much, but he came up with the winning goal.”

“I think Norway had the final bit of quality,” added ex-England international Steph Houghton. “The big man was always going to score the winner.”

Haaland has now scored in each of his past 13 competitive appearances for Norway, claiming 25 goals in that run.

Yes, that included filling his boots against Moldova, Israel and Estonia. But Haaland also scored twice in the 4-1 thrashing of Italy to seal Norway’s qualification for a first major tournament since Euro 2000.

Then, at the World Cup, he scored twice to tame the Iraqi threat, before two more to edge Norway past Senegal.

He was rested against France – denying the world a match-up between him and Mbappe – but was unsurprisingly returned to the XI for the last 32 as one of 10 changes by manager Stale Solbakken and produced a priceless, perfectly timed intervention to settle a tense battle against the Ivorians.

He was not the standout player on the pitch in Dallas. Both Antonio Nusa and Amad Diallo scored much better goals. Until the 86th minute, Haaland was the support act.

He made just 10 passes In Dallas, eight of them successful. He took just 27 touches across the 90 minutes and almost half of them were in his own half.

But, while his goals may not be showy, they are hard-earned through instinct, movement and timing – only six of his Norway goals have been penalties – and as against Ivory Coast they come at just the right time.

As one Norway fan told BBC Sport in Dallas: “He means everything to us. He’s so decisive in moments like this.

“He’s one of the main reasons we qualified in the first place and the reason why we won today. He’s the most important player by far. He’s the greatest player Norway has ever had and probably ever will have.”

“To score five goals in the World Cup in three games, for a little country like Norway, I wouldn’t swap him for anyone,” Solbakken said.

“He’s the greatest goal scorer in the world of football today.”

No current male international footballer can come close to Haaland’s strike-rate, which begs the question: how many goals can he score for Norway?

So, hear us out.

Compare Haaland to the top men’s scorer in international football history, Cristiano Ronaldo, whose Portugal team are on the other side of the World Cup draw to Norway.

Ronaldo has scored, so far, 145 goals in 231 games for Portugal – so that’s a goal every 1.59 internationals. Haaland has 60 in 53, a goal every 0.88 games.

That means Haaland is on course to match Ronaldo’s current total in his 128th Norway game.

If Norway play about 10 internationals a year, including qualifiers, friendlies and tournaments, Haaland should reach Ronaldo’s record in just over seven years when he is 32 – nearly a decade younger than the Portuguese superstar.

Should Norway qualify for every major tournament between now and 2040, and Haaland plays in every international fixture, even if they got knocked out in the groups every time he will have 260 international goals by the time he is 41 – Ronaldo’s age now.

This is all fun and conjecture, of course. We can’t know how much longevity Haaland will have at the top level, how injuries may take their toll or whether Norway will continue to qualify for major tournaments.

But in the here and now, Haaland is Norway’s top Viking. (BBC)

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