It’s perhaps not a surprise that Norway’s Erling Braut Håland is excelling at the Under-20 World Cup. He has the genetics – his father is former Man City and Leeds player Alf-Inge Håland – and the size – at 6ft 3in he towers over many of the other players at the tournament. But few would have predicted he would score nine goals in a single match, as he did against Honduras on Thursday.
Norway’s 12-0 win was the largest in Under-20 World Cup history and his nine goals were the most ever in a single match by one player in the tournament. Only once in the history of the U-20 World Cup has a player scored more than nine in an entire tournament. Honduras played some of the match with nine players after two red cards.
Manchester United, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund have all been linked with Håland in the past, and United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær coached the teenager when both men were still at Molde. Håland joined Red Bull Salzburg at the start of 2019.
“Haaland should definitely become a world-class striker,” Dagbladet journalist Oyvind Godo told ESPN in 2018. “He is strong as a bear and fast as a horse. He is a killer; a goal machine. The choice of Salzburg is very good, because he is going to be an important player there from the very beginning. It is important to play a lot at his age.”
The 18-year-old is yet to win a senior cap for Norway, and is therefore eligible to play for England as he was born in Leeds. He still supports Leeds United, and has said he dreams of winning the title with the club.
Håland may not get the chance to add to his goal tally: Norway finished third in their group and must wait for other results to see if they qualify for the knockout stages.
