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Following Erling Haaland’s dramatic 86th-minute winner that secured a 2-1 victory over the Ivory Coast at the FIFA World Cup 2026, Norway manager Ståle Solbakken has disclosed that he won’t swap the Manchester City star for any player.
The win over the Ivorian side marked Norway’s first-ever victory in the knockout stages of a major tournament, which Solbakken described as a historic performance.
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Solbakken also pushed back against critics who suggest Haaland is one-dimensional, noting that he is highly underrated at holding up the ball and maintaining possession for the team.
“There’s no doubt about that. Today he wasn’t that much involved. He had one big chance in the first half, and now he’s scored the winning goal again.
“It brings a calmness to the team when you have a player like him, who is in my way very underrated in terms of keeping the ball.
“Because you see he didn’t lose one ball today.
“Scoring five goals in the World Cup over three games for a small country like Norway is impressive; I wouldn’t swap him for anyone.”
“Because he’s the greatest goal scorer in the world of football today.”
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Haaland boasts an astonishing record for Norway, having scored over 60 international goals in just over 50 appearances.
He is Norway’s all-time men’s top goalscorer and has been prolific at international tournaments, chasing the Golden Boot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
1 Comment
I would gladly swap haaland for osimhen…
And my reason is simple:
Osimhen has scored 8 goals in 7 matches unprecedented…..so far in this world cup????.
Osimhen has the highest goals per game ratio by any player in world cup history???….
So again yes!
I would swap him for osimhen…..