Haaland dumps pressure on England before Miami quarter-final
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- Erling Haaland told reporters "all of you should put every single pressure on the English lads" ahead of Saturday's World Cup quarter-final in Miami (22:00 BST), calling England "one of the clear favourites."
- Haaland, 25, has scored in 14 consecutive competitive games for Norway and netted 7 goals in 4 tournament appearances, including a double that eliminated Brazil in the last 16.
- Norway reached the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 1998 after finishing second in Group I and beating Ivory Coast and Brazil in the knockout stage.
- Haaland was born in Leeds during the summer his father Alf-Inge moved from Leeds United to Manchester City, meaning he faces the nation of his birth on Saturday.
- Haaland's off-field US exploits have gone viral — his Dallas cowboy-hat shopping trip, filmed for YouTube hours after the Ivory Coast winner, gained more than 6 million views in five days.
- Nico O'Reilly, Haaland's Manchester City teammate likely to start at left-back for England, called the comments potentially "mind games" but stressed Norway are "good collectively" beyond one player.
- England assistant Anthony Barry warned Norway are "no fluke," citing their set-piece threat and captain Martin Odegaard as a Premier League winner who drives the team.
Why it matters: Haaland's mind-game framing shifts pre-match narrative pressure onto a favoured England side that has reached the quarter-finals at the past three men's World Cups but not the final since 1966. England's staff publicly conceded Norway are not a one-man team, acknowledging Odegaard's influence and set-piece danger — a notable signal given their own right-back crisis heading into the Miami clash.
