Erling Haaland<\/a>, a natural in the role of berserker, more than it does Martin \u00d8degaard, the thoughtful introvert who captains both the national team and his club side, Arsenal. <\/p>\nThe Gunners\u2019 title-winning season has been \u00d8degaard\u2019s most difficult at the club. A series of fitness problems restricted him to just 16 Premier League starts and 24 league appearances in total, with one goal. <\/p>\n
At times there were resentful rumblings about \u00d8degaard\u2019s availability record, with suggestions that some at Arsenal believed he was saving himself for the World Cup. If so, at least he has turned up to the World Cup in shape. <\/p>\n
Norway kicked off against Senegal in the vast open bowl of the MetLife Stadium, renamed New York New Jersey Stadium for the World Cup, under an ominously darkening sky. Hopes were not high that the game would finish on schedule. Everyone knew the France v Iraq game had been delayed nearly two hours by a thunderstorm in Philadelphia, and everyone knew that the same weather was on its way up to us, less than 100 miles up the coast. <\/p>\n
The afternoon had seen torrential rain, thunder and lightning, the bleak roads and car parks surrounding MetLife were swamped with huge puddles like a washed-out festival. Earlier Zohran Mamdani had issued a statement reassuring New Yorkers that the city was ready for the storm, which frankly wasn\u2019t very reassuring. When the mayor is talking about the weather then you fear the worst. <\/p>\n
The Norway fans had greeted \u00d8degaard\u2019s name with a cheer almost as loud as the one they\u2019d given Haaland, and the midfielder\u2019s desperation to do well was evident in a frantic first-half display that was more notable for its energy than its quality. <\/p>\n
His first big involvement came on 13 minutes when he arrived on to right-back Marcus Pedersen\u2019s cut back and skied it. He windmilled his arms as though to fire up the Norway fans behind the goal, but it looked as though the gesture was partly intended for himself. <\/p>\n
![\"Norway's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/B2BTV3LDQ3YSXWSPGWABF7AWII.jpg\")
Norway’s fans ‘row the longboat’ during the 2026 World Cup Group I football match between Norway and Senegal at the New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford. Photograph: Timothy A. CLARY\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n
A promising situation a few minutes later ended with \u00d8degaard rushing a pass to nobody, and on 37 minutes came the worst moment yet. Haaland drew two defenders and cushioned a header back into the path of his captain, free on the left side of the area, but \u00d8degaard drove the shot straight at the legs of the advancing Edouard Mendy. A good save, but the Norway 10 should have given him no chance. <\/p>\n
A few minutes later Haaland dummied a ball on Senegal\u2019s 18-yard line but \u00d8degaard again failed to make good use of the chance. You got the feeling Haaland might be taking on the next chance himself. <\/p>\n
Senegal, though, were showing a remarkably relaxed attitude to the idea of marking \u00d8degaard, who, despite the setbacks, kept gamely finding space and showing for the ball. <\/p>\n
Just before half-time, Pedersen spun and found his captain free as usual in the right half-space. \u00d8degaard\u2019s attempt to thread a diagonal through-ball for Haaland did not beat the defender but, disastrously for Senegal, the interception ran into the path of Pedersen, who had continued his run all the way down the right. <\/p>\n
The Norway right-back hammered his shot goalwards at the near post, too close to Mendy, who should have saved, but didn\u2019t. Finally, \u00d8degaard had made something happen \u2013 not quite the way he\u2019d intended to, but Norway had the lead. <\/p>\n
Mendy\u2019s confidence seemed shaken and he almost conceded a second moments later, getting caught in possession by Haaland who took it around the sprawling Senegal keeper only to hit the near post from a narrow angle. <\/p>\n
Senegal\u2019s half-time team talk evidently did not include any discussion of measures to stop \u00d8degaard receiving the ball in space every time Norway won the ball. The first Norwegian attack of the second half again went through the Arsenal man, who again measured a through-ball for Haaland. This time it had just enough weight to reach the striker who beat Mendy with a typically clinical first-time finish. <\/p>\n
\u00d8degaard sprinted to the corner flag ahead of Haaland, as joyfully as if he had scored the goal himself. <\/p>\n
Five minutes later Senegal pulled one back when Ismaila Sarr headed Sadio Man\u00e9\u2019s cross past \u00d8rjan Nyland, but Norway restored the two-goal lead when Khalidou Koulibaly\u2019s heavy touch gifted possession to Patrick Berg, who skipped around the Senegalese centre-back and squared for Haaland to score his second, and his fourth of the World Cup, with a delicate right-foot volley in off the bar. <\/p>\n
It was Norway\u2019s seventh goal of the World Cup, as many as they had scored in their three previous appearances at the finals combined. As the players ran to celebrate with the hero, their captain was picking the ball out of the net and booting it happily into the air. He had struggled, his perseverance had paid off, Norway were top of the group and going to the round of 32. <\/p>\n
Sarr scored a neat second in injury time to take it back to 3-2, a goal that might yet be significant for how the tournament brackets play out: before it Norway only had to draw with France to go through as group winners, now they have to beat them. But you would not put it past them. You score two, we\u2019ll score three: it\u2019s the new Norwegian way. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Cup Group I: Norway 3 M Pedersen (43) E Haaland (48, 58), Senegal 2 I Sarr (53,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[28468,2956,61,60,298,112,4018],"class_list":["post-514053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-erling-haaland","tag-fifa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-norway","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}