‘The best goalscorer in the world’: Erling Haaland primed for World Cup debut

The venue where one footballing great’s World Cup journey ended will witness the beginning for another. Little did anybody know at the time that Diego Maradona’s appearance for Argentina against Nigeria in 1994 would be his last on football’s biggest stage. It was then the Foxboro Stadium. Fast forward 32 years. Same place, different name. At the Boston Stadium, Erling Haaland will play in the World Cup for the first time as Norway face Iraq on Tuesday. Careers can be defined by this tournament. It is a reference point, for example, that George Best never featured in one. “I think he is the world’s best goalscorer,” said the Norway head coach, Ståle Solbakken. “He is physically fit. I think he has gradually played better and better in training. “He is where he wants to be and hopefully the team can give him the service he needs to get goals. If you give Erling chances, he has a tendency to score,” Solbakken, who does a decent line in understatement, added. The 58-year-old gave a short shrift to speculation regarding Real Madrid trying to sign Haaland. “We haven’t talked about it at all,” he said. “It doesn’t interest me and I haven’t heard anything about it.” Half a mile from the stadium, the global media representation as Norway completed Monday’s training session told a story. Tore André Flo was regarded as an formidable international striker until Haaland burst on to the scene, smashing all records before him. …