Seven years before his senior World Cup debut, Erling Haaland produced the performance that made him a global name. The article looks back at Norway's 9-0 win at the 2019 Under-20 World Cup in Poland, where Haaland scored nine goals against Honduras and added one assist, setting the all-time record for goals in a single match at the tournament.
BBC Sport had initially reduced the feat to a dry headline about a Norwegian player scoring nine times at the Under-20 World Cup, but at the time Haaland was still mainly known as Alf-Inge Haaland's son. Within three years, he would become the Premier League's top scorer, lead Manchester City to league titles and a Champions League triumph, and emerge as one of the world's best players.
The article recounts the barrage in Lublin: Haaland scored in the 7th, 20th and 23rd minutes, completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot, struck again just before halftime for 5-0, then finished the second half with goals seven, eight and nine. He broke the previous tournament scoring record held by Adailton, who had scored six in Brazil's 10-3 win over South Korea in Malaysia in 1997. Norway still failed to advance from the group stage, and Haaland had not scored in their first two matches.
After the game, the 18-year-old said, “It annoys me a bit that I didn’t score with my last shot. I’ll have to sit down and think about it a bit and maybe I’ll find out what happened.” The article says that seven years later, he will lead Norway into its first senior World Cup match, starting against Iraq, with expectations high after a perfect qualifying campaign that included a win over Israel. Norway now believes it can go far, but the spotlight remains on Haaland.
