Five goals and two assists — a striker can hardly have a better game. Erling Haaland achieved this as Norway equalled their largest win in a competitive game on Tuesday, beating Moldova 11-1 in World Cup qualifying.
This means that Manchester City’s goalscoring sensation has more international goals (48) than appearances (45). You have to feel sorry for Moldova’s defenders. The nation is 154th out of 210 in FIFA’s men’s rankings, and they were ill-equipped to stop a player who set the record for most goals in a Premier League season (36 in 2022-23).
Haaland became the first man to score five times in a European World Cup qualifier since Hans Krankl scored six for Austria against Malta in 1977. However, it’s not the first time that Haaland has netted five times in a game, having done so twice at club level for Manchester City. Haaland also once scored nine goals in a 12-0 win against Honduras at the Under-20s World Cup in 2019.
Let’s look at his best senior international performance and see how Haaland makes scoring, the hardest thing to do in football, look effortless.
Haaland started the game as he meant to go on. He made a run off the shoulder of one of Moldova’s centre-backs — they played five at the back — and Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard scooped the ball in behind to find him.
Haaland cushioned the ball with the inside of his foot, squaring it for team-mate Felix Horn Myhre, and Norway were off the mark in the sixth minute.
Five minutes later, Moldova put themselves in danger. As seen below, Artur Craciun, who plays in the Polish second tier, has this pass cut out by the approaching Myhre. The ball falls to Haaland just outside the six-yard box. He takes one quick touch to set himself and finishes across the goal, into the bottom-right corner, on his stronger left foot. The first goal of five.
The next two goals fit into the same category and show Haaland’s strength in working on the shoulder of defenders and getting in behind.
On both occasions, as shown in the photos below, he sees Odegaard collect the ball and sets off. Both times, he occupies space on the right side of the pitch and sprints towards open space on the left, allowing him to receive the ball on his stronger foot.
In the image below, showing the lead-up to his second goal in the 36th minute, he curves his run to remain onside and in line with the deepest Moldova defender. After Odegaard threads the ball, Haaland once again finishes into the bottom-right corner — this time a first-time finish from just inside the box.
Haaland completed a first-half hat-trick in the 43rd minute, this time showing great speed to reach Odegaard’s through ball despite starting his sprint behind the Moldova defence.
The striker has the composure to round goalkeeper Cristian Avram and loft the ball over a defender who stands on the goal line.
As we have seen from his time at Manchester City, Haaland is not always afforded this space behind to run into. Another strength of his game is crafty movement in and around the penalty area. His fourth goal in the 52nd minute displays that.
He starts the sequence for this goal by blocking off a Moldova defender so that Wolverhampton Wanderers left-back David Moller Wolfe can receive the ball.
Once Wolfe takes possession, Haaland immediately drifts back into the space between the second and third centre-back, anticipating Wolfe’s chipped cross. It is poor defending from Moldova, who allow Haaland to easily occupy free space in the box, setting up a routine headed finish.
The striker barely celebrated the goal, which made it 6-0.
Haaland’s Manchester City team-mate Oscar Bobb came on for Norway just after the hour mark and earned a penalty 15 minutes later. This could have been the chance for another Haaland goal, but it was given to Rangers forward Thelo Aasgaard to complete his hat-trick. Aasgard came on in the 64th minute with Bobb and scored four goals off the bench.
Haaland’s fifth and final goal was the most neatly worked. It came from a corner routine in which Norway right-back Julian Ryerson plays a one-two with a team-mate coming short. Two Norway players block off Moldovan defenders, pictured below, allowing Ryerson to find Haaland, who uses the space that is blocked off. He sweeps the finish into the bottom-left corner for Norway’s 10th goal of the day.
To round off the performance, in stoppage time, Haaland grapples with a defender to head down a Bobb cross and assist Aasgaard’s fourth goal.
It was a memorable night for Norway at their Ullevaal stadium in Oslo.
The win took them six points clear of Italy, who have a game in hand, in Group I. The winners of the 12 UEFA groups automatically qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, with runners-up entering a play-off. Norway last featured at a major tournament in 2000 and at the World Cup in 1998.
Moldova are bottom of Group I and remain winless in five games. Their defending wasn’t textbook, but Haaland is on a mission to feature in his first international major tournament. Wednesday’s goalscoring frenzy was his third hat-trick for Norway, and he has scored 17 goals in his last 11 international games.
With Odegaard behind him, who registered two assists and a goal in the game, Norway’s attack has the ingredients to score against anyone. It does make things easier when you have Haaland up top.
(Top photo: Frederik Varfjell/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)