Erling Braut Haaland outclasses the eight forwards in Brazil’s World Cup squad. Haaland has scored more goals than the eight Brazilians combined.
This is according to the Brazilian football website Lance!. The site’s journalists appear to be trying to alarm Brazil’s millions of passionate football supporters.
Norway’s superstar Haaland is only 25 years old, yet he has already scored 60 goals in 53 international appearances, giving him an average of 1.13 goals per match. Carlo Ancelotti’s eight forwards have managed a combined total of 42 goals in 193 international appearances (an average of 0.22).
Norway’s star striker has played exactly the same number of international matches as the biggest star in this year’s Brazil squad, his contemporary Vinícius Júnior. The Brazilian has had to settle for 13 international goals in his 53 appearances, writes NTB, citing Lance! That amounts to an average of fewer than 0.25 goals per match.
Four of those goals have come in four matches at this year’s World Cup, but even here Haaland is ahead, with five goals in three matches.
Vini Jr. plays as a winger. Matheus Cunha, who plays as a centre-forward in the same position as the Ox from Jæren, has scored only four goals in 27 international appearances, three of them at this year’s World Cup.
It should, however, be noted that the Brazilian website is bending the statistics slightly, as it does not include Neymar in its calculations. Brazil’s all-time leading international goalscorer has scored 79 goals in 128 appearances, but he has barely featured at this year’s World Cup and has not scored.
Even if Neymar is included, however, Brazil’s nine leading goalscorers average only 0.63 goals per match combined—just over half of Haaland’s average of 1.13.
These World Cup players have scored for Brazil:
Vinícius Júnior: 13 in 53 appearances
Raphinha: 11 in 41 appearances
Gabriel Martinelli: 5 in 26 appearances
Matheus Cunha: 4 in 27 appearances
Endrick: 4 in 20 appearances
Igor Thiago: 2 in 5 appearances
Luis Henrique: 2 in 16 appearances
Rayan: 1 in 5 appearances.
The match between Brazil and Norway will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, which has a capacity of more than 80,000 spectators. Kick-off is scheduled for 10:00 p.m. this evening, unless it is postponed because of forecast thunderstorms.