16 goals in 8 games: Erling Haaland’s stunning record could make Norway dark horses for the World Cup

Erling Haaland is having an exceptional season even by his usual high standards, and after firing Norway to their first World Cup in 28 years, could he actually make them surprise contenders to win it?

That would be some upset for sure, but do we need to take Haaland and co. seriously? After all, they have perhaps the best player in the world right now, with the Manchester City striker netting a staggering 16 goals in eight World Cup qualifying games.

We’re used to seeing numbers like that from Haaland at club level, but he can clearly also do it without the help of Pep Guardiola and world class teammates like the ones alongside him at the Etihad Stadium.

Still, it would also be harsh on the rest of the Norway team to say they’re all about Haaland, as good as the Norwegian goal machine has been.

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard is another big name in this team, and if he stays fit and reaches his best form, he’ll be crucial to getting the best out of Haaland by supplying him with the kind of service he thrives on.

Other noteworthy players include Sander Berge, Oscar Bobb, Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa, and, perhaps by next summer, City wonderkid Sverre Nypan as well.

Together, this Norway side has gone through a superb World Cup qualifying campaign, winning eight games out of eight, scoring 37 goals and conceding just five. On Sunday, they thrashed the mighty Italy 4-1 away from home to show just how serious they are.

Norway clearly won’t be one of the big favourites to win the World Cup as there are so many other great teams involved, and it’s not often you see genuinely huge upsets at major tournaments.

Spain and France stand out as having the best squads, while England are also starting to look like a really serious team under Thomas Tuchel, and of course you can never rule out other giants such as Brazil, Germany or reigning champions Argentina.

But surprises do happen – think Greece winning Euro 2004, or more recently when Croatia reached the 2018 World Cup final. This Norway team looks just as good, if not better, than those sides, and have a truly special goal-scorer in Haaland who is probably a level above pretty much every other footballer on the planet at the moment.

We’re used to it by now, but Haaland’s scoring stats really are extraordinary.

The 25-year-old has 55 goals in 48 caps for his country, making him just the sixth footballer ever to score 50 in fewer than 50 caps.

To put that into some context, former Germany striker Miroslav Klose is currently the all-time leading scorer at the World Cup with 16 goals (see table below for the top seven), which came as part of a total of 71 in 137 appearances for the German national team.

If Haaland gets to play as many World Cups as Klose did, and continues to score at his current rate, he could absolutely smash that record.

Others like Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe will also have that record in their sights and will surely get there first, but it’s going to be very interesting watching Haaland on this stage next summer.

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