Texas : Norway striker Erling Haaland has ramped up preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2026 knockout stage, sharing training snippets on social media as he gears up for his side's Round of 32 clash against the Ivory Coast on Monday (local time). The prolific forward posted clips from his training session, captioning it "Knockout mode loading," as Norway intensify their preparations ahead of the high-stakes fixture.
Earlier, Haaland was clicked with Grammy-nominated American rapper Travis Scott during the ongoing FIFA World Cup. Haaland, who did not feature in Norway's final league stage match against France at Foxborough, which his team lost, posted a picture with 'Sicko Mode' hitmaker. The Manchester City superstar also gave Travis a signed Norway jersey. Haaland posted a picture with Travis on X with a headphones emoji.
Haaland has been one of the star performers at the ongoing FIFA World Cup, having netted braces in both of his games. He is in contention for the Golden Boot with four goals to his name. With a brace against Senegal, his last outing, Haaland became only the sixth player in FIFA World Cup history to score multiple goals in each of his first two appearances at the tournament.
The Manchester City striker joined an illustrious list comprising Guillermo Stabile of Argentina, who achieved the feat in his first three matches in 1930, Hungary's Sandor Kocsis, who did so in his first four matches in 1954, France's Just Fontaine in 1958, Poland's Grzegorz Lato in 1974, and England captain Harry Kane in 2018.
Norway will play their round of 32 FIFA World Cup clash against the Ivory Coast on June 30 at Arlington, aiming to match their best-ever round of 16 finish, which they had achieved in their last WC in 1998.