Haaland: All pressure on England ahead of quarter-final
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- Erling Haaland told journalists all pressure is on England ahead of Saturday's World Cup quarter-final in Miami, smiling as he urged media to heap pressure on Thomas Tuchel's side and calling England "one of [the clear favourites]."
- Haaland has scored seven goals in four appearances at this tournament, including a double that eliminated Brazil in the last 16, and has netted in each of his past 14 competitive games for Norway.
- Norway reached their first World Cup quarter-final since 1998 after finishing second in Group I and beating Ivory Coast and Brazil in the knockout stage.
- Nico O'Reilly, Haaland's Manchester City teammate and England's likely starting left-back on Saturday, called the comments "mind games" but acknowledged "Erling is Erling... He can score goals and is dangerous in the box."
- England assistant Anthony Barry said Norway are "excellent at set-pieces" with threats beyond Haaland, highlighted captain Martin Odegaard as a Premier League winner, and called the quarter-final "step one of three" in their tournament plan.
- Haaland was born in Leeds during the summer his father Alf-Inge moved from Leeds United to Manchester City, and his US profile has surged — a YouTube video of him buying cowboy hats in Dallas after the Ivory Coast win drew over six million views in five days.
- On the cover of Time magazine last year, Haaland said Norway had a 0.5% chance of winning the World Cup, a figure he now calls outdated, saying a quarter-final run is "quite surprising even for me."
Why it matters: Haaland's seven goals in four matches have dragged Norway — at a World Cup for the first time since 1998 — into a quarter-final against an England side that hasn't reached a final since 1966. England assistant Anthony Barry framed the tie as "step one of three" and warned Norway's threat extends well beyond Haaland, singling out captain Martin Odegaard. With Haaland's City teammate O'Reilly likely tasked with marking him at left-back, the mind games sharpen the stakes for Saturday's Miami knockout.
