A Real Life Viking: Erling Haaland Leads Norway Into the Round of 16.

Written By: Landon Pulmano

Contributor | Sideline Society Media

You know how some people just check the time without really thinking about it. That's Haaland with goals. Quick glance, done, on to the next thing. He's got five of them at this World Cup now. Norway is somehow still in the tournament. This country has never won a knockout match at a World Cup. Now it has, and the guy who made it happen is 25, was born in Leeds, and probably figured his career would look a lot quieter than this. The tournament started off with a bang. Two goals against Iraq in his first World Cup appearance, nine minutes in. Then vs Senegal another two, clean finishing, nothing fancy. Four goals in two games, and he hasn't dribbled past anyone to get there.

Every shot he's taken at this tournament, all ten of them, has been a first-time strike. Against Ivory Coast in the round of 32, Norway won its first ever World Cup knockout match, and Haaland came off the bench looking like a guy who'd had a full week off. In the 86th minute, Patrick Berg found him unmarked after three defenders bit on the wrong player, and Haaland tapped it in. He's now got sixty international goals in fifty-three caps for Norway, and he's scored in thirteen straight competitive games for his country. There's also what he does when nobody's filming.

Haaland dropped $60,000 on a personal cryotherapy pod for his house, cold plus red light aimed at cutting recovery time down. He eats offal, heart and liver, and drinks raw milk. You can say this called a modern day viking’s diet. He works through four to six thousand calories a day with a chef who plans it all out. He tapes his mouth shut at night and sleeps in a room engineered down to the temperature and light, all built around one goal, waking up recovered. Haaland also bought equity in Hyperice, the recovery tech company, so he's not just using the gear, he owns a piece of it. None of this is standard training. Most players just ice a knee and go home. Up next is Brazil, Sunday at MetLife Stadium, in the round of 16. A month ago that matchup would've sounded ridiculous for Norway to even be part of. But with Erling Haaland anything is possible.

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