Haaland, Ronaldo, and Mbappe: The Attacking Trio Paving the Way to the 2026 World Cup

OSLO, WEDNESDAY — A quintuple of goals from Erling Haaland, followed by penalties from Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappé, marked their country's victory in the 2026 World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday (September 10, 2025) early morning WIB. In addition to contributing three points, the three best strikers also set personal records.

Haaland scored five goals to help Norway crush Moldova 11-1 at Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo. His goals were scored in the 11th, 36th, 43rd, 52nd, and 83rd minutes. In addition, he also contributed to the opening and closing goals of the "Landslaget," the nickname for the Norwegian national team, by providing an assist for Felix Horn Myhre's goal just six minutes into the match and for Thelo Aasgaard in the 90+1 minute.

Aasgaard, who came on as a substitute, scored four goals. Another goal came from midfielder and captain Martin Odegaard.

Undoubtedly, the match against Moldova was Haaland's best performance since representing the senior team of Norway on September 5, 2019. The Manchester City striker had never before scored five goals or provided two assists in a single game while wearing the Norwegian jersey.

Haaland set a record never before achieved by a Norwegian player with the quintuple. In the history of European World Cup qualifying, Haaland is second only to Austrian legend Hans Krankl, who scored six goals against Malta in 1977.

Haaland's career quintuple was his third game in which he scored five goals in a single game. The other two came while playing for City. The quintuple came against RB Leipzig in the Champions League on October 12, 2023, and against Luton Town in the FA Cup on February 27, 2024.

The blonde striker is increasingly asserting himself as Landslaget's all-time leading goalscorer, having scored 48 goals in 45 appearances for Norway.

Two statistical sites, Fotmob and Sofascore, agreed to give Haaland a 10 rating in Norway's fifth game in Group I of the 2026 World Cup pre-qualification. He is the first player to receive a perfect rating from both sites in all 2026 World Cup qualifying zones.

"It feels amazing. I don't have anything else to say, the result speaks for itself," Haaland told Norwegian TV2, as reported by the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) website.

Odegaard also praised Haaland's performance. "Playing with him (Haaland) is like a dream. I know he has the perfect running rhythm. The ball just needs to be directed correctly, and then he can kick the ball into the goal in the majority of the chances the ball reaches his feet," Odegaard stated as quoted by the NFF website.

For Norway, the 11-1 victory represents their best result in World Cup qualifying. Nevertheless, their largest score remains recorded when they defeated Finland 12-0 in 1946.

In the history of the European World Cup qualifiers, the match between Norway and Moldova was the third game to end with a score of 11-1. This result matches Hungary's victory over Greece in 1938 and North Macedonia's advantage over Liechtenstein in 1996. The largest victory still recorded remains West Germany's 12-0 thrashing of Cyprus in 1969.

Apart from the historic victory, Norway has managed to maintain a 100 percent win record in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. They have accumulated 15 points from five matches. Norway is four points ahead of Italy and Israel.

The situation is helping Norway to be on the right track to end a long hiatus from participating in the World Cup. The national team last played in the World Cup in France 1998. If they qualify for the 2026 World Cup, it will be the first opportunity for Haaland, as well as Odegaard, to compete in a major international tournament.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo continued his productivity with Portugal. A perfect penalty execution in the 58th minute helped Portugal defeat Hungary 3-2 at the Ferenc Puskas Stadium in Budapest.

That was Ronaldo's 11th goal in the last 12 matches representing the "Selecao das Quinas." For Ronaldo, his goal tally with Portugal has increased to 141 goals.

In addition, Ronaldo has also equaled the record for the most goals in World Cup qualifying held by legendary Guatemalan striker Carlos Ruiz. Both players have scored 39 goals in the qualifying phase for the World Cup. Ronaldo still has four matches until November to assert himself as the sole new record holder for that goal tally.

"Cristiano Ronaldo's performance is an example for all players. His attitude and performance demonstrate that he is a true captain," said Portugal coach Roberto Martinez, as reported by A Bola.

Two other goals for Portugal were scored by Bernardo Silva (36’) and Joao Cancelo (86’). Barnabas Varga briefly rekindled Hungary's hopes of holding Portugal with a goal in the 21st and 84th minutes.

The positive result from Budapest also helped Portugal secure six points from two matches in Group F. They are three points ahead of Armenia, which was defeated 5-0 in the first game. Hungary and Ireland have only one point each.

In another match at Parc des Princes, Paris, Mbappe helped France come back from a three-goal deficit against Eslandia. They were taken aback by the goal from the visiting team contributed by Andri Gudjohnsen in the 21st minute. Mbappe scored from the penalty spot in the final moments of the first half's normal time.

Three points for "Les Bleus" were secured by Bradley Barcola in the 62nd minute after capitalizing on a pass from Mbappe. Similar to Norway and Portugal, France also performed perfectly in Group D.

A goal helped Mbappe surpass Thierry Henry's scoring record, placing him second on the list of the top scorers for the French national team. With a total of 52 goals, Mbappe needs just six more goals to establish himself as the highest-scoring player in France's history. The record for the most goals for France is held by Olivier Giroud with 57 goals. (AP/REUTERS)