Haaland’s secret to success
In GQ magazine, Man City striker Erling Haaland talked about the importance of the mental side, how he developed into a striker and coped with pressure.
Haaland was praised and given many nicknames from the beginning of his career. The Norwegian striker was called a “monster” by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, current Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp called a “force of nature”, and former player and manager Paul Dickov called a “different player”. Coach Pep Guardiola used the word “crazy”, while the legendary Thierry Henry said “this is not normal” when talking about Haaland’s goalscoring stats. Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabara even said “Haaland is not human” in the middle of the match against Man City in the Champions League.
The media compared Haaland to “cartoon superhero”, “Mike Tyson at its peak” or “Terminator”. The 22-year-old striker was described by Spain’s Marca as a “robot”, the New York Times called “a malfunction in the system” and the British newspaper Guardian compared it to “a goal-hungry Viking”.
Haaland’s scoring videos also went viral at breakneck speed. Like when Haaland scored nine goals against Honduras in the U20 World Cup – an achievement that made many opponents cry outside the field. The hat-trick on his Champions League debut or the situation that nearly broke the world record in the 60-meter sprint against PSG.
He was Norway’s best player at the age of 18, and was voted Germany’s best player at the age of 20. A year later, FIFPro ranked Haaland among the 11 best players in the world. Such potential at such a young age is difficult to calculate, literally. Haaland is so good that the developers of the Football Manager video game had to tweak the stats to prevent him from breaking them.
Haaland played for Molde – where he scored 20 goals in 50 first team games at the age of 17, 18. Photo: imago
Soon, the Norwegian striker was a trending topic midweek. Haaland’s explosive popularity on social media is so overwhelming that the tourist board of Halland, a picturesque landmark in Sweden, complains it has almost wiped them off Google. “If nothing is done, we fear this dear region risks becoming a forgotten Atlantis, a place known only in ancient stories and scriptures,” Halland’s announcement reads. paragraph.
When he arrived in the Premier League – the toughest league in the world, Haaland continued to gobble up scoring records like Pac-Man ate the golden points in a video game: 18 goals in his first 13 games, including three hats. -trick in a row at home. He currently has 25 goals in 20 Champions League matches – a number no one has touched. Coaches, teammates and even opponents struggle to put into words when it comes to the goalscoring ability and physical prowess of Man City’s rookie striker. Peter Crouch – a former England striker who played for Liverpool – simply said: “I have never seen such parameters in a player of the same age as Haaland. Never.”
Haaland, just 22 years old, is used to all this, enjoying and hunting for goals. When playing, strikers always want to scare the opponent. Haaland understands that, in football, competition is not just about happening on the field but also in the mind. On October 31 of recent years, he dressed up as a lasagne-eating “Terminator”, or a madman holding a saw, and then posted on Instagram with the status line: “Congratulations Haalandween”.
“It was fun. It was a very good joke,” Haaland shared, and revealed that he does not often go on social networks to read performances or comment on matches. “I don’t go on social media to read about myself. I can’t control what people say, think and write about me. So I don’t care.”
Haaland in the photo and self-proclaimed status line on Halloween on October 31, 2022. Screenshots
In terms of appearance, Haaland is not too different, 1m94 tall, muscular but not as majestic or monstrous as many people’s comments about his ability to score goals. GQ reporters met Haaland at Man City’s training ground on a cold Wednesday in December, during an unprecedented winter break in Premier League history. Norway did not attend the 2022 World Cup, and so Haaland enjoyed a rare break from the start of the season. “I go to enjoy the sun and try not to think about football,” Haaland said, trying to stay fit until club football returns at the end of 2022.
At that time, Haaland was the only player in the gym, wearing Man City training clothes with his hair tied into a ponytail. With no arrangement to talk, he and GQ’s reporter sat down in a nearby meeting room. In the stifling confines of the CEO chair, Haaland exudes boredom. He was like a hibernating predator.
Haaland quickly settled into life in Manchester. The $63 million transfer from Dortmund to Man City in June was like a trip back home. Haaland was born in England. Haaland’s father, Alfie, played for Man City in 2000 and retired early in 2003. At that time, Haaland was just a toddler, too young to remember much. “I remember a little bit when I saw the photos, but not much,” Haaland said.
Moved back to Norway with his family at the age of three, but Haaland still feels a connection to Man City. “My parents know England, so that’s a good thing. For me, it’s special to play in the same club as my dad,” he said.
Haaland wore a Man City shirt as a child, when his father, Alfie, was still playing for this club. Photo: Instagram / erling.haaland
The rapid integration at Man City came in part from his successes on the pitch, where Haaland’s impact was both immediate and massive. After an unsatisfactory first match in the English Super Cup, the Norwegian striker scored a brace on his Premier League debut. Haaland has scored non-stop since then, and now has 28 goals in 25 games, averaging more than 60 minutes to score a goal. At one point, Haaland alone scored more goals than half of the clubs in the Premier League.
Not only parameters, Haaland also owns a special scoring style. He pushed away the 1.91-meter-tall center-back Adam Webster, then shot into an empty net to open the scoring in the 3-1 win over Brighton on October 22. Before this match, Brighton defender Joel Veltman praised Haaland as a complete striker with body, speed and technique.
Or the goal against the old club Dortmund in September 2022. When he received Joao Cancelo’s pass, Haaland did not head but hit the ball with the outside of his left foot – which he suddenly swung overhead like a ballerina in a great battle. The goal was so unbelievable that one commentator exclaimed on live television “Sometimes you can’t believe your eyes”.
Countless hours of commentary and articles have been spent dissecting everything about Haaland – why the striker is more prolific, healthier than many other players, at such a young age. Is it Haaland’s innate athletic quality, natural finishing instinct?
Many people briefly say Haaland is a comprehensive striker, agile, strong, skillful when holding the ball as well as when turning his back to the goal. Even among the top strikers in the world, Haaland is still a rare goalscorer. He can always find a space beyond the reach of the keeper’s outstretched fingers, or launch a shot in a strange position that makes the opponent unpredictable.
But what’s really remarkable about Haaland, if you watch the matches closely, is his ability to hide and wait for his chance. Throughout the 90 minutes, the 22-year-old striker lingered beside the opposing centre-backs, lurking in their blind spots, patiently waiting for an opportunity, then suddenly reappearing, like a ghost. And then, Haaland is often half a step faster than the opponent to put the ball into the goal. Of course, many top strikers have the same style, but Haaland has raised this technique to near-perfection, or at least in the first half of the 2022-2023 season. It’s fascinating to see so many top-class centre-backs as shocked to see Haaland, as if they’ve forgotten the tall Norwegian striker is still on the pitch.
I try to be a little bit smarter, a little bit sharper, than the competition,” explains Haaland. Then, if there’s a second chance, I can finish and the opponent can’t block, for example. They might think I’m moving to one side or the other,” he posed to the right, then shook to the left and continued: “So I scored. Things like that, that’s what I always think about.”
As a child, Haaland followed other strikers obsessively. He mimics their movements, figuring out what makes them unique and different. “From Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Van Persie. From Jamie Vardy to Sergio Aguero, Lionel Messi. Alvaro Negredo, Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli,” he listed.
Over time, Haaland picked up things from each of them, and paid particular attention to the mental aspect of each match. Scoring at the highest level in football is not just about physical attributes, it is also about mental competition, with matches built on confidence, calculation, and trickery. “I think in the end, the most important thing is the sanity of the mind,” emphasized Haaland.
Haaland does not start as a striker. He ran side by side as a child. “I was fast,” Haaland recalls. While his goal-scoring talent was already evident at the time, many say that Haaland’s first touch of the ball at youth level led to the goal.After returning from England to Norway, the Haaland family moved to Bryne, a small town on the west coast of the country. There isn’t much for kids of Haaland’s age to do in Bryne, especially when it’s cold and wet outside. In Norway, winter takes up most of the time.
But the local team, Bryne FK, has an indoor pitch covered with artificial grass. Here, Haaland and friends will spend the weekend playing ball games – two against two, or three against three – for hours. “When it snowed outside, we practiced inside. It was a really important place for my life and career,” he said.
Haaland was born into a family with a sports tradition. His father is a famous former professional footballer, and his mother, Gry Marita Braut, is a former triathlon athlete. But as a child, Haaland was far from the different physicality he is now. “Haaland is very skinny,” said Alfe Ingve Berntsen, a former coach at Bryne FK who trained Haaland in youth teams.
In return, Haaland had a natural gift and unusual devotion, and soon he was playing with children a year or more older than him. “Haaland played against two strong and fast central defenders. So, if you don’t move very skillfully, Haaland won’t have a chance,” Berntsen explained.
You can watch these situations on Youtube, with many videos shot by Bernsten: Haaland breaks through the defense to make a cross or shoot from close range, like what he is doing in a Man City shirt. “I still try to do the exact same things that I did when I was 13 years old back home. I still run like that. Watch my videos when I was 13 years old, you will see exactly the same thing,” Haaland asserts. determined.
Unlike many other former professional athletes, dad Alfie avoids putting pressure on his son’s burgeoning football career. Instead, he chose to keep his distance. “I learned a lot from coaching Haaland’s brother, Astor,” he said. “There’s a lot of attention around Astor, because he’s my son. I don’t think both me or my son have handled it well. Haaland is five years younger than Astor, and wants to pursue professional football. I have I could see that passion. So I went backstage, especially the training sessions and the games. I didn’t say a word.”
Berntsen describes the football player as a building built on four pillars. “It’s technical, tactical, physical and mental respectively,” he said. “If you’re good, when you’re 14, 15, you’ll have two of these four qualities. If you have three, you’re a very potential player. Haaland is very strong technically, tactically and psychologically. Because So the only thing missing when he’s 13 or 14 is fitness.”
When looking at Haaland’s siblings and parents, Bryne FK coaches knew that Haaland would thrive physically. “I said over and over and over again when Haaland was down, ‘Wait a little longer. In four or five years you’ll be bigger and stronger than them. Just keep calm.’ Now Haaland has all four qualities,” Berntsen said. .
Around the age of 16, Haaland grew physically. “Honestly, my daily goal is to eat as much as I can, because I’m growing so much,” Haaland says. “I have a lot of growing pain in different places on my body.”
At the same time, Haaland continued to thrive on the pitch. At the age of 15, he played his first professional match for Bryne FK. A year later, he signed with Molde – a club in the Norwegian first division. Coincidentally, Molde was led by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – one of the best strikers in Norwegian history. Here, Solskjaer helps Haaland develop the habit of a top predator, focusing on the smallest details in finishing and movement. “The first thing he said was that I didn’t know how to head and had to improve,” Haaland recalls.
So, during training sessions, Solskjaer and his assistant made crosses for Haaland to perfect his finishing skills with his head. “That’s what we did for two years, the whole time I was in Molde. It was a good thing, because at the time, I didn’t know how to head. Now I can score with my head, thanks to the sessions. practice like this”, Haaland thanked the old teacher. Those training sessions paid off. After a slow start, Haaland scored 16 goals in 30 games in his second season with Molde. Not long after, he was on the radar of Europe’s top clubs.
One of the advantages of having a dad who was a former player at the time was that Haaland and Alfie thought strategically about potential moves. “We set our goals for the next three, four or five years,” Alfie said. “If you don’t play well in Molde, you can’t play anywhere else in Europe.”
When asked by many clubs, including Leverkusen and Hoffenheim in Germany, Brugge and Ghent in Belgium, or even Leeds – Alfie’s former club and Haaland’s birthplace – in England, the striker knew he needed to choose his next destination. in a smart way. The biggest thing that hinders a young player’s career is sitting on the bench just to earn a little extra money. “I spoke to a psychologist about the Molde experience, and he said ‘the only way to get experience is to play’. I wanted to get experience soon, so I had to play. I cannot come to a place just to sit on the bench,” Haaland expressed.
In January 2019, Haaland joined RB Salzburg – an Austrian club with a Champions League spot, giving many opportunities to many young players and coincidentally missing a striker. Here, Haaland exploded, scoring 25 goals in 23 matches in a flexible attack with potential Asian duo, Takumi Minamino and Hwang Hee-chan.
But the game that really changed everything came only that fall, on his Champions League debut against Genk. Haaland opened fire in the second minute, 34th minute and again in the 45th minute, to debut on the biggest stage at club level with a hat-trick in the first half. This seems to be a sign that Haaland will destroy many of this tournament’s records. The Norwegian striker is obsessed with the Champions League, even setting the song of the tournament as his alarm clock, and listening to it while driving on the road.
“It was crazy night,” Haaland recalls. His whole family was on the field to watch. After the game, Haaland went for regular doping tests and then met his relatives in the players’ waiting room. “Haaland finished everything around 11:30 a.m. We said let’s go home and have a beer, or good wine,” Alfie said. Haaland drove his family home by himself. But instead of celebrating his first Champions League hat-trick, he got in his car at 1am and drove to the training center to do his post-match recovery routine. “That’s when we realized Haaland was really determined,” Alfie said.
Haaland views the match against Genk as the turning point in his career. “After the game, what do I think will happen next? I can’t stop now,” he asked himself. “Now, people are really starting to look at me, and I’m going to perform. I’ll be playing the next game in three days, if I remember correctly. For me, it’s important to be able to keep doing this. not just once, but many times”.
Finally, when he returned home at 3 a.m., Haaland couldn’t sleep because of the excitement. In addition, the striker saw the announcements on social networks go crazy after the game. “That was the night when everything exploded,” he said. News of Haaland’s top-flight Champions League debut has spread throughout the footballing world. His Instagram followers skyrocketed. “That’s when I knew, everything was crazy and I had reached the point. I was so excited,” Haaland said, adding that she had to turn off notifications.
The match against Genk was not a display of his ability to score, because Haaland had scored many goals before, but a stage for him to show off his ability. A lot of players also shot, even scoring three goals on their Champions League debut like Haaland, but the difference is that the Norwegian striker continues to do it at new clubs and new leagues. On his Dortmund debut, Haaland came on in the second half and scored three goals from three shots in 23 minutes. Similarly, he scored twice on his Premier League debut. In total, he has shot in seven club debuts. “Haaland is never afraid. He doesn’t care who the opponent is,” Bernsten said.
Confidence is a trait not only strikers, but all professional athletes, want. For strikers, confidence will help them score one goal after another. But its sudden absence could ruin a season and over time an entire career.
Premier League history has no shortage of expensive, cult and top rated strikers in the world, but could not adapt to the new environment, struggled to score goals and then left. Confidence can be lost when a player stumbles, sustains an injury or has problems in his personal life. With Haaland, he is not afraid to face pressure. Like Ronnie O’Sullivan – the greatest and most successful player in snooker history, or basketball star Steph Curry, Haaland doesn’t shrink from the limelight but thrives on it.
This is also the origin of the comparison of the Norwegian striker with a robot, implying that Haaland is not affected by external factors. “I like to be under pressure,” Haaland said, unfazed. “I like being challenged. I think a lot of things you have innate, a lot of things in your mind, like concentration, readiness or composure. That’s one of the most important things for a player. football”.
Haaland doesn’t have everything naturally, but he especially focuses on the spiritual side. A few years ago, he caused a storm with a celebration of sledding and then taking the lotus position and closing his eyes, as if in a meditative state. This celebration was imitated by many players, appeared in the video game FIFA and aroused more curiosity about Haaland. “I think that’s a really good thing,” Haaland said of the signature meditation celebration. “Relax, try not to think too much. Because stress is not good for anyone. I hate being stressed, and I try not to get stressed. But the concept of meditation is about trying to let go of these kinds of things. It’s really personal, but for me, it has a positive impact.”
Haaland came to meditation not by accident, but through a constant effort to improve himself. “Haaland is very curious, even outside of football, about how you can get better,” Alfie said. In everyday life, Haaland often wears blue-light filters at night to prevent screens from interfering with sleep, and turns off Wi-Fi at night. “I’m really focused on sleep,” he explains. “For me, the most important thing in life is sleep. Not only sleep a lot, but also sleep well.”
As for people, Haaland radiates a kind of yogic calm. The 22-year-old striker also lives a disciplined life almost like a monk, not going out much, not playing FIFA, not watching many movies. “I get the question, ‘What do you do in everyday life’. I don’t do much,” Haaland said. “I wake up in the morning, have breakfast and come here. After that, I have treatment and it’s almost the end of the day. I go home, relax, prepare for the next training session, prepare dinner, then go home and relax. go to bed”.
The Man City striker also did not review the video or analyze in-depth like many colleagues do before important matches. “I don’t think too much about the game, before the ball kicks in,” Haaland said. “I live in the present, not trying to think about what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow.”
One of the core principles of yoga and mindfulness meditation is to unburden yourself, get rid of negative thoughts, try to let go of things that can make you angry or upset, to appreciate the present moment. in. This is considered one of Haaland’s greatest strengths, its ability to eliminate self-doubt, in the same way that an ascetic throws away possessions. As one of the most watched, highest-paid players, expected by millions of fans and the whole country, but Haaland has always kept his composure.
That is the mentality that Man City wants to supplement when recruiting and paying Haaland nearly 1 million USD per week, including hard salary, bonuses, sponsorship, in the summer of 2022. Etihad Stadium owners dominate English football, but not yet. can claim to be king in the Champions League. Appointing Pep Guardiola – one of the greatest coaches in history – since 2016, Man City have also been unable to accomplish this goal, with the best achievement being in the final in 2021. They are criticized for often “selfish” shot in the foot”, whether it was due to Guardiola’s odd tactical choices, the players’ lack of confidence or just bad luck. They still lacked something of a spiritual element.
The signing of Haaland was supposed to be the final piece – a sharp, capable striker lacking in a near-perfect team of expensive assembled parts. When asked if City lacked something mentally at key moments, Haaland replied: “Honestly, I don’t think so. Like against Real last season, sometimes I think it’s real. God is in heaven and decides everything. This psychological issue, can Real Madrid have that by winning the Champions League? I don’t know if that’s realistic. Maybe.”
That, usually, doesn’t upset Haaland. “I will try my best to win titles with Man City and become a game changer,” he emphasized. “My goal is to win the Champions League, hopefully.”
There are similar expectations in their home country of Norway – the team is not participating in Euro 2021 and the World Cup 2022, but has a generation of talent. In addition to Haaland, Norway also has Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard, Napoli defender Leo Skiri Ostigard or Brentford defender Kristoffer Ajer. “Norway is a small country, with 5.5 million people. No, I think less than that,” Haaland said. “But at the World Cup, you see many small teams doing great things. We hope to be able to make it to the 2026 World Cup, that’s my biggest goal with Norway. Hopefully one day I will. will be playing knockout matches against the team.”
Haaland currently has 22 goals in the Premier League, seven more than England captain Harry Kane – who is behind – to seven. Maintaining this form, he will hold the advantage in the race to win the Golden Shoe and be in the election for the Golden Ball – the most prestigious individual award in football. “I think every player wants to win the Ballon d’Or,” admitted Haaland. “But I don’t think that’s a good thing to think about. If you and the teams play well, win trophies, then you might be on the list. Like Kevin De Bruyne – by the way, he He’s third, and I think he totally deserves it.”
As Crisiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi draw close to the end of great careers, Haaland and Kylian Mbappe – two of the best strikers of their generation – are expected to create a rivalry and dominate the next decade of the Ballon d’Or. The duo even scored more goals than Messi and Ronaldo at their respective ages. For now, Haaland’s goal is simply to maintain top form for more than a decade. “Look at Benzema, he’s 35 years old, and he’s playing better than before. So in the next 12 years I hope to be in better form than he is now,” said the 22-year-old striker.
Possibly, the only real threat to Haaland in breaking all Premier League goalscoring records is injury – something the striker has experienced on multiple occasions. Alfie himself had to retire from his digital career due to a series of knee injuries. “I don’t think you should worry about everything,” Haaland said. “I don’t think that’s a good way of thinking, so I’m not worried about getting injured. Injuries are part of football. I’ll probably get injured again, but hopefully not. You never know. what happens in football, it’s a dangerous sport.”
Haaland says this with the usual composure he does most things, with his wry smile, big, clear eyes, and shiny hair like in a 90s shampoo commercial. That’s it. the power of Haaland – a smooth running robot. “In Norway, we have the adage ‘Life isn’t brilliant every day.’ That means there are days that are worse than others, and that’s what life is,” Haaland muses. “I think I’m really good at that, letting go of things that aren’t worth thinking about and not bothering with anything.”
Haaland paused for a few seconds, careful not to swear, having been punished for similar behavior in a televised interview. “To relax. Enjoy your life, because life is short,” the 22-year-old striker closed.
