ARLINGTON, Texas, June 30 (Reuters) - With his team on the ropes and heading towards extra time, Norway's Erling Haaland burst to life to fire his side into the World Cup last 16 in a far-from-vintage performance that will still go down in history.
At the final whistle of their 2-1 win over Ivory Coast, Norway's first-ever in the World Cup's knockout stage, the giant striker went looking for midfielder Patrick Berg to plant a kiss on his forehead for the assist that he scuffed over the line four minutes from time.
He was beaming from ear to ear as the Norwegian World Cup adventure was extended at least until their showdown with Brazil on Sunday.
"I was dead tired, so I thought 'I can't cope with extra time, so we have to score'," a grinning Haaland told Norwegian broadcaster TV2.
Having scored four goals in their first two group games before sitting out the third, Haaland had been on fire at the tournament, but for much of the 90 minutes against Ivory Coast, he was ice-cold.
Floating between the two centre backs, Haaland got his head to the ball early but his effort on goal lacked power, and the longer the game went on, the more anonymous he became.
Antonio Nusa fired home to give the Norwegians a first-half lead, but he and Alexander Sorloth on the opposite wing often took too much out of the ball, instead of playing it in quickly to Haaland, rendering the striker's runs redundant and eventually leaving him standing still in the middle.
LACK OF SERVICE
Frustrated by the lack of service, Haaland began to forage further from goal, but though he possesses immense strength and a fine first touch, he is much more effective facing goal than with his back to it.
On the few occasions Norway went forward, captain Martin Odegaard attempted to slide balls in behind the Ivorian defence to onrushing fullbacks and wingers, but the attacks repeatedly floundered, and when Amad Diallo scored for Ivory Coast in the 74th minute, he ushered in the most important period of Haaland's international career.
Just before that goal, Norway coach Stale Solbakken substituted Nusa and Sorloth for Andreas Schjelderup and Oscar Bobb, but the problem of serving Haaland continued.
That was until Bodo/Glimt schemer Berg took matters into his own hands, taking the simple option from Bobb's superb pass to slide the ball across the goal.
Such was Haaland's surprise at getting a perfect early ball that he almost missed with the goal at his mercy, but he got enough on it to force it over the line and send his side through.
By sitting so deep, Norway played with fire for long spells, but Haaland came to the rescue as so often before, and after the game he celebrated with the fans, standing alone on the field wearing a convincing-looking horned Viking helmet.
Solbakken breathed a sigh of relief after his striker saved him once again.
"If I can survive that, I can survive anything," he said.
(Reporting by Philip O'ConnorEditing by Toby Davis)
