Haaland Promises To Practice After His 2 Penalti Kicks Failed When Facing Israel

Norwegian national team striker Erling Haaland. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Norwegian national team striker, Erling Haaland, promised to continue practicing penalty executions after two of his shots from the spot failed when his squad faced Israel in the European zone 2026 World Cup Qualification Group I match, Saturday, October 11 evening.

"Twice I couldn't score a goal from a penalty. It wasn't very good. So I have to practice again," Haaland said as quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, October 12.

In the Norwegian versus Israeli match, Polish referee Szymon Marciniak punished the visitors with a penalty after Dan Biton fouled in the box in the third minute.

Erling Haaland stepped forward as the executor but his shot was parried by Daniel Peretz. However, the penalty process turned out to be repeated because based on VAR, Szymon thought that Peretz had moved outside the goal line first.

However, on the second occasion, Haaland was again unable to score because his kick ball could still be anticipated by Peretz.

"The match was indeed slow at first, especially because I couldn't score a goal from two penalties. However, that's the importance of us staying calm," said the 25-year-old footballer.

According to Haaland, this calm made Norway able to score goals one by one until they won 5-0. Haaland himself performed very well after successfully scoring three goals (hattrick).

The three goals made Haaland have scored 51 goals for the Norwegian national team from 46 matches that have been passed.

The record left him firmly at the top of the all-time top of the Norwegian national team, far ahead of Jorgen Juve in second place (33 goals from 45 matches).

Meski demikian, Haaland menegaskan dirinya tidak terlalu memikirkan rekor gol.

Dia ingin fokus sepenuhnya untuk membawa Norwegia ke Piala Dunia 2026.

Peluang Norwegia untuk lolos ke Piala Dunia 2026 sangat besar lantaran mereka untuk sementara berada di puncak Grup I dengan 18 poin dari enam pertandingan.

Berikutnya, Norwegia akan menjamu Estonia pada Senin (13/10) waktu setempat.

"Tim harus tetap berkepala dingin dan fokus ke pertandingan melawan Estonia," tutur Haaland.

However, Haaland insists he doesn't think much about goal records.

He wants to fully focus on bringing Norway to the 2026 World Cup.

Norway's chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup are huge because they are temporarily at the top of Group I with 18 points from six matches.

Next, Norway will host Estonia on Monday (13/10) local time.

"The team must remain cool-headed and focus on the match against Estonia," Haaland said.