Norway used the first half of the World Cup pre-season match against Sweden at Ullevaal to show the world that Solbakken and the Norwegian players do not travel to the World Cup as football tourists. This was without Erling Haaland. Then the World Cup squad got on the plane to the United States, established itself and got one last test against Morocco. In this match, our super striker was 75 minutes on the pitch with 4 poor touches on the ball, to great laughter in the foreign media. The French also chuckled, in the World Cup Kylian Mbappé was going to show the world once and for all that France has the world’s best striker, not the football mosquito Norway. Especially.
On Friday, Haaland and Mbappé will meet. The latter already has extensive experience from World Cup finals, with 16 goals Mbappé stands as a “Mr. World Cup”. Football is still perishable, however, what we have seen of the two giants after two games, tells the story of a “bull” and a “technician”.
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Erling Haaland has in previous years been criticized for not contributing enough to the team, Pep Guardiola has met the criticism with a What?! Haaland scores like no one else in the Premier League, what’s the problem? In the past season, Haaland has also shown a different side. The 25-year-old has shown throughout the season that he has an incredible work capacity and team effort beyond doing his job of scoring goals.
Against Iraq, Haaland was a giant on the pitch, the same against Senegal. “Our man” goes into the football war in every single duel and creates space for teammates and constant trouble for the opponents’ defense and goalkeepers – even when he himself is not the last man on the ball in the goal.
Mbappé showed a different side against Iraq, but a shot clocked in at 119 km/h before slamming over the goal line for another goal ensured that Mbappé earned the Player of the Match award.
Against Senegal, the Real Madrid star also earned the Player of the Match award, after two beautiful goals.
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Two giants in front of the opponents’ goal. On Friday, the two will meet to take their place at the top of the throne. For us, there is no doubt, Erling Haaland is well on his way to becoming a more complete player than Kylian Mbappé. The Manchester City striker doesn’t need to come from outside the box to score, he delivers world-class, regardless of where he is in front of the opponents’ goal.
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