Messi, Mbappe may be the superstars but Haaland is fast catching up

The moment the MetLife Arena, soaked in water and warned of a flash flood, waited breathlessly for arrived at the stroke of the fiftieth minute. When the man, the boisterous Norwegian sea of red wanted to score a goal, finally scored. The Erling Haaland moment; the Viking stamp on the game. He had to wait too, till he suffered the pangs of isolation through much of the first half, till he watched his colleague Martin Ødegaard fluff a delightful pass; till his grass-cutter crashed onto the base of the post.

Then came two in the space of nine minutes, an adequate cushion to douse a belated comeback from Senegal (3-2), ensuring Norway’s progress to the round of 32 in their long-awaited comeback to the World Cup. And how he and his teammates celebrated the monumental victory, performing the rowing celebration in the middle of the pitch, to cracking imitations and rippling applause from the stands.

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But the Haaland moment was inevitable, even if he was passive in the first half. Lionel Messi had doled out a brace; as had Kylian Mbappe, portending a golden-boot race for the ages.

Haaland could not slip out of the race, at least for the charm of a three-horse race, at least for breaking the duopoly. And so he did with bizarre calm. A well-weighted pass from Ødegaard, splitting the centre-half pairing of Moussa Niakhaté and Kalidou  Koulibaly, found him in adequate space to drill the ball ferociously past Édouard Mendy.

Haaland, with a swaggering smile, ambled to the corner flag, where he and Ødegaard stuck the pose, either side of the flag. The stand beside broke into the symphonic row, chanting Haaland’s name. They were rowing; Haaland was riding the wave.

Erling Haaland (9) scoring his side’s third goal during against Senegal. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The first goal was cathartic; the second invaluable. Senegal, cutting loose, which was the only way they could have forced a comeback into a game where they defended with stupendous sloppiness, halved the arrears through Ismaila Sarr’s sliding finish. A sudden wave of energy seized them. But Haaland snuffed it with a sniper’s deadeye finish. It seemed routine, him working out the angle with a neat shot off his instep that bounded off the crossbar.

But the late contortion of his body was sublime, and what makes him an elite striker. He was gunning for a shot with his left foot, which is what he often does. But with a defender nudging behind, he would not be able to manufacture space and control the ball as he would have wished to. So he quickly cavorted, and wrapped his right-foot around the ball that came at hip level. His quick change of mind surprised Mendy. Even if not, his shot was so sweetly-timed that the Senegalese net-minder would have been incapable of defanging its venom. The celebrations rolled on a cold and damp night that he lit up. He pointed his ears at the crowd. He wanted more noise, they wanted more goals.

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From 3-1, the comeback doors slammed shut for the African Cup finalist.

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After his brace, the golden boot race reads: Messi 5; Mbappe 4; Haaland 4. The Norwegian has shown he is a worthy competitor to them, and a potential inheritor to their throne. Mbappe-Haaland sprint could define football in impending years, but this edition, Messi’s shadows loom over them. Haaland pressed and probed for a hat-trick goal that would have made him level with Messi. But it didn’t arrive, like the rain that was forecast to dampen the New Jersey night. He has a showdown in the Mbappe in the next game, but there are bigger battles to be won.

The 25-year-old has been the poster boy for Norway, which qualified for the tournament after 28 years. In the decades past, they possessed a functional, spirited team without a talisman. In Haaland, they have found one. His emergence is even more special than those of Messi and Mbappe. For, Norway had not a long lineage of elite players. In Haaland, they have discovered someone who can reliably influence games to decide the big moments. Win them trophies they had never dreamt of.

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Defensive contributions

His defensive contributions in the nervous end-game was equally noteworthy. In the final minute of stoppage time, Senegal were awarded a corner kick. All their men, barring the goalkeeper, were inside the box. Ismail Jakobs flung in a delightful ball, bending into the box and onto the forehead of Sarr, whose brace had offered Senegal a smidgeon of comeback hope. But Haaland towered over him, and although Sarr connected with the ball, the header was off-target because Haaland had blocked his vision.

When the final whistle blew, ending a game redeemed of its first-half ennui by a hysteric second half, Haaland did not forget Marcus Pedersen, who scored Norway’s first goal. He hugged and thanked him, just as the whole of Norway would have Haaland. It was not a flawless Norway performance, but they had a flawless Haaland.