Not to be outdone by fellow superstars Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland scored his third and fourth goals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in just his second match, helping Norway advance to the round of 32 with a 3-1 win over Senegal on Monday in front of a packed house at New York New Jersey Stadium. Hours after Messi and Mbappé each scored twice in their own matches earlier on Monday, Manchester City headliner Haaland converted twice in the second half to bring his goal total for his country to an astonishing 59 in just 52 international games. Here are my takeaways: 1. Haaland Is Embracing The Biggest Of Stages Four years ago in Qatar, France and Argentina faced off for the title in what turned out to be the greatest World Cup final ever played. The subplot of that match and — of the entire 2022 tournament, really — was the battle between soccer’s best two players. Messi was going for his first World Cup win. Mbappé, who scaled the highest mountain in sports as a teenager as France won it all in 2018, was trying to emulate the iconic Pelé, who’d led Brazil to back-to-back World Cup wins way back in 1958 and 1962. Club teammates at the time with Paris Saint-Germain, Messi scored twice in the final (one in extra time) to lead the Albiceleste to its first crown since Maradona did it in 1986. Mbappé notched a hat trick in a losing effort but earned the Golden Boot, his eight goals one more than Messi’s seven. Haaland, meantime, watched that World Cup from afar; Norway failed to qualify. Perhaps the best pure scorer in the game even then, Haaland is making up for lost time. Although the ponytailed striker missed two great chances in the first half of Monday's game, he took care of business in the second. His timing was even better. Both of his goals gave the Norwegians a two-goal lead, the latter canceling out Senegal’s lone tally just five minutes after the West African power had pulled one back. With Haaland in this form, there’s no reason to think the Vikings can’t make a deep run at this World Cup. 2. More Bad Luck For Senegal When Crystal Palace standout Ismaïla Sarr cut Norway’s lead in half shortly after Haaland had made it 2-0, it seemed as though the Lions of Terenga might be able to take at least a point from the game heading into their first round finale against Iraq, the last place team in Group I. Haaland’s second stopped that momentum right in its tracks. And while Senegal did get another goal from Sarr in stoppage time, it was too little and too late to prevent them from dropping all three points for the second time in as many matches. Following last week’s loss to France, coach Pape Thiaw’s team now must beat the Iraqis to have any chance of advancing as one of eight third-place finishers. And even then, it might not be enough. Luck just hasn’t gone Senegal’s way this year. After beating Morocco (and their towel-stealing ballboys) on penalties in the African Cup of Nations final in January, they were unceremoniously stripped of their title by the continent’s governing body in March for leaving the field following a controversial penalty call in the championship match two months earlier. Now Senegal is on the verge of an early World Cup exit, with their fate resting at the feet of other results. 3. Norway Is No Longer a One-Man Show As "inevitable" as Haaland scoring is (according to USA striker Folarin Balogun), soccer isn’t basketball, where one great player can make the four others on the floor competitive. It takes all 11 players to succeed in the planet's most popular sport. Don’t believe it? Just ask Messi, whose supporting cast let down the GOAT badly in four previous World Cups and even more Copa Américas before the current generation began winning finally won those trophies. Unstoppable as Haaland is he wasn’t able to carry Norway to the 2022 event by himself. But his country has improved mightily over the last four years, and they’re showing it this summer — their first trip back to the World Cup this century. Martin Ødegaard captains Premier League champs (and Champions League runner-up) Arsenal. Four other members of the 26-player World Cup roster are employed in the English top-flight division, while others are scattered around the rest of Europe’s top club circuits. Indeed, it was a substitute who gave Norway a lead that they’d never relinquish; Marcus Pedersen, who plays for Italian Serie A side Torino, replaced the injured Julian Ryerson (of German titans Borussia Dortmund) in the first half. 4. What’s Next In Group I? Now that Norway has punched its ticket to the round of 32, they’ll aim to secure an easier knockout round slate by topping the group. It won’t be easy, as Mbappé and France await on Friday at Boston Stadium. As for Senegal, they’ll no doubt try to run up the score in their final group stage match against FIFA’s 60th ranked squad when they travel north of the border to take on the Lions of Mesopotamia in Toronto.
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