Erling Haaland has scored seven goals in four World Cup appearances this summer, but there is one goalkeeper he couldn't find a way past.
Ahead of England’s World Cup quarter-final against Norway, we spoke to former Gibraltar goalkeeper Dayle Coleing about the time he kept Erling Haaland off the scoresheet.
Haaland has scored 62 goals in 54 appearances for Norway and is among the World Cup betting favourites to win the Golden Boot, but when Gibraltar faced Norway in 2021, Coleing and his teammates managed to keep the Manchester City forward from finding the net.
Coleing explained how Gibraltar’s tactical approach kept Haaland quiet, whilse also reflecting on the striker’s frustrated reaction after the match as he refused to shake hands with any of the Gibraltar players or swap his shirt.
What was it like facing Erling Haaland?
There was a lot of noise about Erling Haaland before the game, and he was playing at Borussia Dortmund but was set to move to Manchester City.
It was a high-profile game, and people were thinking Haaland would score two hat-tricks, but I think myself and the team drowned that noise out and faced him and Norway hoping to get a respectable scoreline, and we did with Haaland not scoring.
Did you frustrate Haaland when he wasn’t scoring?
He had a few shots on target early on in the game in fairness, and after the first save, my confidence grew, and he became more frustrated. We knew from the beginning of the game it was going to be one of those games for him because we were defending well.
How do you stop Haaland from scoring?
We defended really well and were playing a deep back line, so he wasn’t able to make any runs behind the defenders. Everybody was determined for Haaland not to score because of the noise surrounding him and all of the hype.
He was about to make his move to Man City and was doing great at Dortmund. Haaland had a ridiculous scoring record, so we didn’t want him to score in that game.
We did it by stopping his runs, making sure that somebody was always close to Haaland, and making sure he couldn’t get into space. It worked, as you could see how frustrated he was getting. It was a big team effort.
Did Haaland congratulate you after the game?
No, the moment he got subbed off, that was the last time we saw him, and he didn’t shake the hands of any of our players at the end of the game. Our captain asked for his shirt, and he snubbed him. A lot of us lost a bit of respect for him, but he wasn’t happy that he didn’t score a goal.
There were a couple of players at half-time when we were walking to the changing room who spoke to me and asked if I had played for Real Madrid or Barcelona, they were joking, but it was a great compliment.
You also played Kylian Mbappe. Who was tougher to play against – Mbappe or Haaland?
It was a very different experience because the France and Norway teams are both so different in the styles of play. I think we had quite a few injuries against France and we struggled a lot more, but they were more direct and dynamic than Norway.
In terms of playing styles, Mbappe is harder to play against with his pace and skills. Haaland was easier to defend against, and you can keep Haaland quiet the whole game, but he can pop up with a goal, whereas Mbappe is always involved during a game. They are both different but obviously both elite players.
