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Erling Haaland has Norway's talisman after leading the country to a first major tournament in 26 years and the Manchester City striker could thrive in the World Cup.
Erling Haaland got the cheeseburgers in on Thursday night in Oslo, fresh from the latest double of his own that ensured the party would last long into the Norwegian night.
Twenty-six years after they last graced a major tournament and 28 years after they played in a World Cup, Norway will be back on the biggest stage in the United States, Mexico and Canada in 2026, and Haaland did more than most to ensure they would get there.
This is a golden generation of Norwegian footballers - at least in attacking positions - and is led by the Premier League pair of Haaland and Martin Odegaard. The latter is the captain but missed the November games with an injury, handing the armband to Haaland, who delivered on the pitch and then collected the fast food delivery outside the Ullevaal Stadium soon after full-time.
For all the talk of an expanded 48-team World Cup, Norway would have qualified under the old format and topped a group that included Italy. Haaland top-scored in qualifying with 16 goals in eight games, double his nearest rival in Europe. He added two in Italy on Sunday to his two against Estonia on Thursday as Norway won both games 4-1 to complete a perfect campaign.
Jan Aage Fjortoft was part of the Norwegian side that qualified for the World Cup in 1994, reaching the tournament on that occasion for the first time since 1938. He is a former teammate of Erling's father, Alf Inge and was granted access to the family to film a documentary on Erling's decision to move to Manchester City in 2022. It was during filming when the former Premier League striker, now a respected pundit for Norwegian TV, got the feeling that success was brewing for the national team.
"I went into camp and we did a bit with Martin Odegaard, Sander Berge and Erling," Fjortoft told the Manchester Evening News.
"When I came home from that, I called a friend and I said I got a good feeling because now I see that the players love to be at camp, they love to represent their country. They love to kind of be a part of something bigger than themselves. When you have players like Erling, when you come back and you play for your country, it’s something else.
"At your club, you could win the Premier League or the Champions League. You've got fantastic wages, but when you come to play for your country, you have to understand that it’s different.
"I used to be the team manager for Norway 10 years ago. I always said to the players, at your tombstone, it won't say how much you earn, it will say how many games you played for Norway, how many goals you scored for Norway, how many championships you play for Norway, and things like that.
"And this feeling they have, and when you have Erling and Martin having that, symbolises that. It's easier for the young boys to have that same feeling. They have a tremendous team spirit.
"The way he's playing for Norway, taking responsibility, leading by example. He took them on a lap of honour, took the boys out again and got them behind a goal and everything, so he's been tremendous.
"This is proper metaphoric Viking stuff when you see him. You kind of imagine that's this guy standing in front of a boat going to England, and you have to hide behind some churches."
Haaland's goalscoring record for Norway is now an astonishing 55 goals in 48 games, and his talents clearly deserve to grace the biggest stage in the international game as well as the club game.
His dad played for Norway in a World Cup and has taken on a prominent role in guiding his son's career and Fjortoft believes Erling will have been delighted to achieve something his father has done.
"Erling has always been passionate about improving as a player, passionate about doing the right moves for his career. You see it; it's like a step-by-step thing with him," he said.
"He's passionate about winning the Premier League, the Champions League. And then the only thing missing in that puzzle, at his young age, is success for your country. He's the son of a father who played at the World Cup, so I think that will calm the dinner table conversations a bit at the Haalands."
The first World Cup Haaland can remember watching was the 2010 version in South Africa, when he was 10 years old. Norway might not have been present in his lifetime, but every other summer, he would tune in to the World Cup or European Championship as a football fan.
Now, he will get to live it for himself and speaking earlier this month, he explained how getting Norway there had become the "main goal" in his career.
Fjortroft can remember Haaland reporting for age-group camps as a skinny 16-year-old when he was coached by former Chelsea player Erland Johnsen, and it was in those years that the value of representing your country was reinforced.
"He learned from day one how important it was to play for your country, and Erling has always done that," he said. "You may say 'yeah, but they should'. But history shows us that not everybody does.
"I was running around for Swindon, Barnsley, Sheffield United and Middlesbrough. I mean no disrespect to them, but if you play for the Champions League trophies, if you play for Premier League, that is what fulfils a player, that when you manage to do both, that's what he embodies with his body language, everything he does is that he loves to play for his country and it would be a very missing thing in his life if he didn't succeed in doing that."
Norwegian coach Stale Solbakken made Odegaard his captain and Haaland his vice-captain, entrusting the leadership of a new group to a crop of young players, and as has been the case with City, leadership has brought out more from the striker.
Fjortoft did the media and corporate rounds on Thursday, before the 4-1 win against Estonia, and joked that he was from the time when "Norway had a proper striker, a striker who played at a World Cup". He is delighted that he now has to find new material, and although he is cautious about predicting too much for the team next summer, he has no such qualms about suggesting Haaland could take the tournament by storm.
"Well, if you ask me today, the day after, and when you talk to people and when you read the papers, we will win the World Cup without conceding a goal," he said.
"I can see strength in this team, but also weaknesses in this team. So I think we should be realistic. This team has the potential to be a surprise.
"But the good thing is when you have an Erling Haaland, I mean, Erling Haaland could be top scorer in the World Cup. He has that potential; he can score three goals in the first game of the World Cup. That's what he's doing. That's his business.
"So as long as you have that get-out-of-jail card, I mean, everything is possible."
Haaland has made the impossible look possible for a while now. It's unlikely he will stop at just getting Norway to a major tournament. He will want to make his mark in the biggest show of them all.
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