The Wait Is Over

Norway's last World Cup was 1998 in France. Erling Haaland was born in 2000. He has never played in a World Cup. That changes on June 16 in Boston, when Norway face Iraq in their Group I opener. And then on June 22 at MetLife Stadium, when Norway face Senegal in the match that will define their tournament — the game that could send them into the knockout rounds for the first time since 1998.

Ståle Solbakken named his 26-man squad on May 21, and the names are exactly what Norwegian fans hoped for. Haaland. Ødegaard. Sørloth. Aursnes. The squad that won eight World Cup qualifying matches with 37 goals and only five conceded — the most dominant qualifying campaign in European football.

Haaland: 55 Goals in 48 Appearances

The statistics are not exaggerated. Erling Haaland has scored 55 goals in 48 appearances for Norway. He scored 16 goals in the World Cup qualifying campaign alone. At Manchester City he has set Premier League scoring records that stood for decades. And yet — no major tournament. No World Cup. No European Championship. This generation of Norwegian talent missed qualification repeatedly, even with Haaland in the squad.

Now he gets his moment. A World Cup, in North America, with the match at MetLife Stadium that New York's Norwegian-American community in Bay Ridge Brooklyn has been waiting for their entire lives. The June 22 match against Senegal is the pivotal fixture — Senegal are good, organized, and motivated. But Haaland against any defense is a problem that has no clean solution. Norway's approach will be simple and brutally effective: get the ball to Haaland in space. He will do the rest.

Ødegaard's Return

Martin Ødegaard missed Norway's March warm-up matches with a knee injury. His inclusion in the World Cup squad was not guaranteed — Solbakken had been clear that fitness was the only criterion. He is fit. He is in the squad. And with Ødegaard as the creative link between midfield and Haaland, Norway are considerably more dangerous than the sum of their parts. The Arsenal captain gives Norway an intelligence and technical quality in the number 10 role that no other Scandinavian nation can match.

MetLife, June 22 — Norway vs Senegal

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn will be at maximum volume. The Norwegian-American community in New York has been rooting for this moment for 28 years. For Senegal's community in Harlem's Little Senegal, the stakes are equally high — a win sends them through in a group that also contains France. Two passionate communities, one stadium, 82,000 people. This is why the World Cup comes to New York.