Norway are chasing their first World Cup quarter-final appearance, and the reason they have reached the last-16 is simple enough: Erling Haaland keeps scoring and Martin Ødegaard keeps creating. Haaland has five goals in three appearances. Ødegaard has three assists in three, and he has recorded an assist in each of his three World Cup appearances in North America.
Haaland and Ødegaard are carrying the attacking load
Five goals in three games is the sort of return Norway can build a tournament around. Haaland has been the obvious finisher, but Ødegaard’s output is just as important because it has kept the attack moving instead of becoming one-dimensional.
The standard.co.uk feature on Norway was blunt about both men. It called Ødegaard “Arsenal’s Premier League title-winning captain” and said he has “looked right at home at the World Cup” after a frustrating injury-hit season. It also described Haaland as “Arguably the world’s best striker”. That is a big claim, but five goals in three appearances is exactly the kind of production that makes it sound less like hype and more like a reasonable description.
Norway have also had support from Alexander Sørloth. Standard Sport described him as having grown into a fearsome striker at Atletico Madrid and averaging just shy of a goal every other game. The exact World Cup scoring figure is not provided here, so the cleaner point is that Norway have another senior forward to lean on if the main duo are crowded out.
Brazil are next, and Norway will need the same two players to keep driving the attack if they are going to stay in the picture. The quarter-final target is still ahead of them, not behind them.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →