Erling Haaland says he hoped England would go on to win the World Cup after Norway suffered an agonising extra-time defeat in their quarter-final showdown in Miami on Saturday.
Despite taking a first-half lead through Andreas Schjelderup, the Three Lions fought back with Jude Bellingham scoring twice to send The Vikings crashing out of their first World Cup in 28 years.
The Manchester City striker was born in Leeds, where his father, Alf-Inge Haaland, played for Leeds United, and said it was only natural for him to support England.
“Yeah, why not? I have a few City lads in England (James Trafford, Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly and John Stones), in France (Rayan Cherki), and in Spain (Rodri), so of course I want England to do well,” he told reporters.
“I’ve been supporting them (for a long time). I think I got an England jersey before I got a Norway jersey when I was young. Of course I want people to do well because it’s a nice country and it’s a nice shirt.”
Haaland has been in sensational form for his country and scored seven goals in the tournament to put him in contention for the Golden Boot alongside France’s Kylian Mbappe, Argentina’s Lionel Messi and England’s Harry Kane.
The 25-year-old equalled Poland’s Grzegorz Lato’s record for the number of goals scored on his World Cup debut, and said it was “difficult” to comprehend what his team have achieved.
Credit: flashscore
