World Cup 2026: Holland make their World Cup debut.

If there’s a bigger stage for Erling Haaland, we haven’t found it yet.

He made his Champions League debut for RB Salzburg, his Bundesliga debut for Dortmund, his Premier League debut for Manchester City and now two goals in the World Cup final. He inspired Norway with a 4-1 win over Iraq.

In the year The 2026 World Cup may be six days away, but it really felt like it started on Tuesday, when Kylian Mbappe scored two superb goals in France’s 3-1 win over Senegal to make him Les Bleus’ all-time leading goalscorer.

An hour later, Haaland made his World Cup debut and picked up the gauntlet thrown down by Mbappe, almost 18 months his senior, in a display of passion and the goals we’ve been waiting for.

Norway manager Stahl Solbakken said afterwards: “You could see he lived up to the chance – it wasn’t too big for him.”

“I had a good feeling before the game, the last practice was very good, I had a feeling that he will do it for us today.”

Iraq head coach Graham Arnold added: “He’s a fantastic number nine. We’ll have him very well for a lot of the game (but) at the end of the day he’s a striker.

“A team like Norway can shock a lot of people. They can go a long way.”

Arnold spoke to Haaland after the final whistle and explained: “I just said, ‘You’re one of the best number nines I’ve ever seen.’ He is very strong, fast and deadly.