ARLINGTON, Texas, June 30 (Reuters) - Norway coach Stale Solbakken was delighted for his side and their fans after a tense 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast in their World Cup last-32 clash on Tuesday, heaping praise on striker Erling Haaland.
Haaland's winning goal set up a mouth-watering clash with Brazil on Sunday and was his fifth of the tournament.
Though he has become a household name due to his goal-scoring exploits, Solbakken still believes that parts of his game are under-rated.
"I think he's the
greatest goalscorer in the world, I think there's no doubt about that. You know that today, he wasn't that much involved ... I think he had one big chance in the first half and obviously scored the winning goal again, and his stats are out of this world for the national team as well," Solbakken told a media conference.
"It brings calmness to the team when you have a player like him, and he is really under-rated in terms of keeping (holding) the ball up. He didn't lose one ball today - he wasn't much involved, but he didn't lose any balls."
Starved of service, Haaland worked hard in the shadows before grabbing the spotlight with the winner in the 86th minute of a game that Solbakken found difficult to watch from the sidelines.
The 58-year-old, who played for Norway at the 1998 World Cup before his career was ended when he suffered a heart attack on the training pitch in 2001, endured a nail-biting 90 minutes that saw his side take the lead and then be pegged back before Haaland netted the winner.
"Maybe it's not hazardous to your health, but you're not enjoying the game," he said.
"The best thing about the match was the way we came back after their equaliser, because that was a fantastic individual performance, but we came back and we got the match the way we wanted, so that's the biggest achievement."
With Haaland in such fine goal-scoring form, the Norwegians keep setting new World Cup milestones.
"It's the first time that Norway have won a knockout game and the way we did this against a strong team is something, it's a historic performance," Solbakken said.
He declined to talk about the upcoming clash with Brazil, preferring instead to enjoy the moment, but he did reveal that he found the experiences of playing and coaching at a World Cup have little in common.
"I think it's a big difference being a player and being a coach," he said. "Being a player is fun, being a coach is not so fun, so I think that's the main difference."
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor in VancouverEditing by Toby Davis)
