From cowboy hats to Patti Smith, how Erling Haaland won or lost the World Cup

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Singer-songwriter Patti Smith took a break from sharing snapshots of preparations for her upcoming European and US tour to create a thank you post on Instagram. For the Beatles’ “Revolution 9,” an experimental sound collage John Lennon said was inspired by the sounds of revolution, as the backing track, he wrote, “This means I’m grateful for all the joy.” The caption didn’t say the source of his happiness but the picture was of a dead soul.

It was Erling Haaland from the back in his tight red Norway jersey, his half-up, half-down blonde locks appearing like a name and number on the back of the shirt.

From the newfound popularity of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” during the US men’s national team run to a full-page Boston Globe ad thanking Scotland’s Tartan Army, this summer’s World Cup has been a showcase of America’s unique embrace of a sport with which it is often associated. Few things have gone as far as Haaland has, however. This Norwegian player, who finished his first World Cup with seven goals when his team reached the quarterfinals, is the one who has emerged from this competition. He was more than a quality known to football fans, the 25-year-old already won the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League (you can keep Haaland all season fighting for Champions League glory at Paramount+) years before he took the World Cup by storm. He ignited a fire in a way that few players have, however, despite the best efforts of dealers working on behalf of several of his colleagues – and he did so without their efforts.

A few weeks ago, the world was having fun with Haaland. He leaves the World Cup as a viral star, somehow finding the perfect combination of on-field talents and social skills, so much so that people flocked to Patti Smith’s comments on Instagram to reassuringly reassure viewers that we will see more of a star whose skills did not need further confirmation before the first game in Norway. There is genuine sympathy in the optimistic tone of these comments, as was Haaland’s reflection on the dream of the first World Cup.

“It was absolutely crazy,” he said on Saturday after Norway’s 2-1 loss to England. “It was like a surreal thing and I think it’s changed me as a person, too. I think I’ve become more famous, I’d say, and stuff. And yeah, it’s hard to think about it now when you think about the game and stuff like that but it’s so crazy to be a part of something that’s absolutely special. Everybody told me — people who played — that you have to experience that and that’s my biggest goal now. It’s absolutely crazy.”

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where Haaland’s greatness started, but it’s undeniable at the moment. He started the World Cup with 40 million followers on Instagram and has now reached 65 million, his ability has delighted a lot of fans who did not know about his unparalleled scoring ability. Even after a mixed bag of a season with Manchester City, Haaland has been at his best this summer with Norway, giving stark reminders that he almost feels like a goal-scoring machine rather than a human being on the pitch. His on-field skills are only one part of the package, however.

“He’s physically there,” Arielle Castillo, a communications consultant who has run American City’s digital operations for several years, told CBS Sports. “The thing I’ve always said is that he has a very unique star quality and aura and it’s not just his physical size but when he walks into a room, you really feel it, with the passion, he changes, and I think that’s so powerful that it even comes to television.”

His style of play fits the jock-like tendencies that casual American fans tend to look for in professional athletes. Haaland offers something to a wide audience — Castillo described his professional qualities as “animated” in a way that kids latch onto, while adults enjoy his humor. Countless group chats, regardless of whether they are made up of soccer players or not, have circulated a photo of Haaland wearing a cowboy hat after Norway’s victory over Ivory Coast in the round of 32, the same way many have caught his age-old joke about how he “caught” a seven-hour flight during City’s preseason in the US.

The virality is new enough, but Castillo said he’s seen the mood swing in Haaland’s favor over the past two years, when fans flocked to their preseason stops in New York, Chapel Hill, NC and Orlando, Fla.

“When he joined and people who were fans of the club and fans of the Premier League knew that he was a busy person and a special statue was coming and then in 2024, that’s when I started to see small children screaming, girls screaming,” he said. “Then it was more than Jack Grealish, but that’s when I started to feel that something has really, really, really changed here. The energy of the people lurking outside the hotel, coming to the training sessions, so I thought at that time, the club won the Champions League, the treble, all those things. That’s the best, and I just thought that he’s been in the last three weeks, really crazy.”

His playing skills have put him in the same category as Argentina’s Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappe, Haaland are currently one goal behind the top scorers in the World Cup as the semi-finals await the duo. There is a simplicity to his story, however, that makes it easy for newcomers to embrace – like Messi, his private life is rarely fodder in any meaningful sense. He is almost bored, the son of a former footballer, former Leeds United player Alf-Inge Haaland, who also happens to be in the same game. In an age of ever-closer, more distant stars, however, Haaland has an obvious personality – and people who seem to gravitate towards them immediately.

“When he won the Champions League, he loved life because I think that emotionally, he still has a great relationship with his father’s history in England,” commented Castillo. “He used to sing at the events of our employees and was funny [Manchester] They are together. He is happy to play a small role of a troll and … More [players] they are very reserved because everything they do is separated, and I feel like he doesn’t have that sense because I feel like his life is easy and carefree. He’s just happy to have fun.”

A few weeks ago, the world was having fun with Haaland. He leaves the World Cup as a viral star, somehow finding the perfect combination of on-field talents and social skills, so much so that people flocked to Patti Smith’s comments on Instagram to reassuringly reassure viewers that we will see more of a star whose skills did not need further confirmation before the first game in Norway. There is genuine sympathy in the optimistic tone of these comments, as was Haaland’s reflection on the dream of the first World Cup.