Haaland helps Norway start qualifying with 5-0 rout

Erling Haaland helped Norway make a positive start to their World Cup qualifying campaign by scoring in a

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5-0 rout at Moldova.

Norway’s third and last World Cup appearance was back in 1998, two years before Haaland was born.

Now, Haaland leads a team featuring Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard that bears high expectations of reaching the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The Scandinavians are favoured to win Group I, which also saw Israel beat Estonia 2-1 in the opening round. Haaland scored Norway’s second goal against the outmatched Moldova. That took his exceptional career haul to 39 goals in 40 appearances for his country since his 2019 debut.