Supporters feel Erling Haaland sent a hidden message to Israel in the two social media posts he made following Norway’s 5-0 demolition on Saturday evening. The Manchester City star, widely considered as one of the best scorers in the world, scored his 25th career hat-trick, while two own goals harmed the visitors’ already low World Cup qualification chances in Oslo.
With the current conflict in Gaza being officially declared as genocide by international tribunals, there is rising dispute over Israel’s eligibility to compete in UEFA and FIFA competitions. Spain has even threatened to boycott next summer’s showcase tournament in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, having previously taken similar action with Eurovision. See the current Group I standings below, with first qualifying and the runners-up moving on to a playoff format:
Group I’s current standings
Position
Team
Played
Points
1
Norway
6
18
2
Italy
5
12
3
Israel
6
9
4
Estonia
6
3
5
Moldova
5
0
Currently, Russia is the only nation barred from competing in the World Cup, with football’s governing bodies yet to rule on Israel, despite growing calls for similar punishment. This debate continued in the same week when Palestinian health officials stated that Israel’s two-year ground and air war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip has killed over 67,000 people since October 2023.
Erling Haaland’s Instagram Posts Following Norway 5-0 Israel
Since Norway’s huge win on Saturday evening, which put them in command of Group I as they chase their first World Cup appearance since 1998, Haaland has already posted twice on Instagram.
While it is unclear whether the song choice for both posts was intentional, many online have speculated that his usage of his own track, CTID’s “Haaland (Ha Ha Ha),” was a subtle dig at Israel, almost as if he was laughing at his opponents. See his posts below (note: the song is only available on mobile):
https://www.instagram.com/erling/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=2ee25ee2-1b48-4d39-9ea1-2f3063af559e
Since concerns over Israel’s probable qualification were initially raised a little over a month ago, despite the fact that the country has never qualified through the European quota and has only previously made it when competing in Asia’s qualifiers in 1970, they have lost twice. First came a shocking 5-4 loss to Italy, and now a crushing defeat at the hands of Haaland.
If they want to make the playoffs, they must win on Italian soil on Tuesday. Failure to secure all three points would make their final match against bottom-placed Moldova a dead rubber, as more than three points would separate them from a playoff spot in second place.
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