![\"Norway](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WCsc-023.jpg\")
Norway forward Erling Haaland celebrates his second goal as Iraq takes on Norway in World Cup soccer. (staff photo by Stuart Cahill\/Boston Herald)<\/p>\nFOXBORO \u2014 Erling Haaland planted his flag at the FIFA World Cup, his two goals Tuesday night powering Norway to a 4-1 victory over Iraq at Boston Stadium.<\/p>\n
Haaland, a hulking striker with a prolific scoring record, opened his account at the World Cup after 29 minutes, sliding onto David M\u00f6ller Wolfe\u2019s feed from the left side of the box and redirecting the ball into the roof of the net. He made history 13 minutes later by becoming the first Norwegian to score more than once in a single World Cup game.<\/p>\n
Iraq put up a valiant fight, running at Norway\u2019s defenders and exciting their many throngs of loud and proud supporters in the announced crowd of 62,106.<\/p>\n
Norway forward Erling Haaland celebrates his second goal as Iraq takes on Norway in World Cup soccer. (staff photo by Stuart Cahill\/Boston Herald)<\/p>\n
The Iraqis, playing in just their second ever World Cup \u2013 and first since 1986 \u2013 tied the game in the 39th minute, as Aymen Hussein rose to head in Amir Al-Ammari\u2019s cross from the left flank. But Haaland\u2019s second goal arrived just four minutes later, as he jumped on an errant back pass by Zaid Tahseen and poked the ball past Jalal Hassan while running at full speed.<\/p>\n
Norway secured an insurance goal in the 76th minute, as Leo \u00d8stigard headed in a Martin \u00d8degaard corner kick. Their fourth goal arrived in the final minute of second half stoppage time, as Kristian Thorstvedt rose to poke in Haaland\u2019s knockdown off of Aymen Hussein, who was retroactively awarded an own goal.<\/p>\n
Hussein is just the third player to score for and against his nation in the same World Cup game, joining Croatia\u2019s Mario Mandzukic (2018) and the Netherlands\u2019 Ernie Brandts (1978).<\/p>\n
With Saturday\u2019s victory, Norway assumes control of Group I alongside France, who defeated Senegal, 3-1, earlier in the day. Norway faces the Senegalese next and returns to Foxboro on June 26 to face France in what is one of the most anticipated games in the entire group stage. That game will pit Haaland, the reigning English Premier League scoring champion, against Kylian Mbappe, the elegant striker who is in prime position to break the World Cup\u2019s all-time goals record (16) after tallying a brace against Senegal.<\/p>\n
In the newly expanded 48-team field, two nations advance to the knockout round from each group, as well as the top eight third place finishers. That said, Group I, with the high-scoring Norwegians, two-time champions France, technically sound Senegalese, and upstart Iraqis, has been seen as the tournament\u2019s Group of Death.<\/p>\n
Taking all three points from Tuesday\u2019s opener was both necessary and expected for the Norwegians, who ruthlessly cruised through European qualification with eight consecutive wins and 37 goals scored. Iraq put up a respectable underdog performance, as Hussein made history by scoring his nation\u2019s second ever goal in World Cup history.<\/p>\n
![\"Iraq](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WCsc-014.jpg\")
Iraq forward Ayman Hussein kicks the ball in front of Norway defender Kristoffer Ajer as Iraq takes on Norway in World Cup soccer. (staff photo by Stuart Cahill\/Boston Herald)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOXBORO \u2014 Erling Haaland planted his flag at the FIFA World Cup, his two goals Tuesday night powering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[50785,19212,19559,94,971,3222],"class_list":["post-163830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-boston-stadium","tag-erling-haaland","tag-foxboro","tag-iraq","tag-norway","tag-world-cup-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116762715476098876","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}