On Saturday, October 11, the qualification round matches for the 2026 World Cup took place. In one of them, the Norwegian national team hosted Israel at home. The hosts thrashed their opponents 5—0.
The main hero of the meeting was Erling Haaland, for whom this game was special, Opta.
Haaland recorded a hat-trick to his name, which allowed him to achieve a fantastic feat. The Norwegian, in the match against Israel, crossed the mark of 50 goals in the national team jersey. It took him only 46 matches to achieve this.
Previously, no one had managed to score fifty goals so quickly for national teams. In particular, he far outpaced the best forwards of today, such as Harry Kane (71 matches), Robert Lewandowski (90), Lionel Messi (107), and Cristiano Ronaldo (114).
Haaland also continued his goal-scoring streak in matches for club and national team, which now stands at ten matches. He updated the best result of his career in this indicator and repeated the achievement of Lionel Messi, who managed it twice—in 2010 and 2013.