Haaland helps Norway start their World Cup qualifying campaign with 5-0 rout
CHISINAU: Erling Haaland helped Norway make a positive start to their World Cup qualifying campaign by scoring in a 5-0 rout at Moldova on Saturday. Norway’s third and last World Cup appearance was back in 1998, two years before Haaland was born. Now, Haaland lead a team featuring Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard that bear high expectations of reaching the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The Scandinavian side are favored to win Group I, which also includes Estonia and Israel. Haaland scored Norway’s second goal against the outmatched Moldova. That took his exceptional career haul to 39 goals in 40 appearances for his country since his 2019 debut. Dortmund defender Julian Ryerson opened the scoring for Norway five minutes after kickoff in Chisinau.
