No false bravado

Erling Haaland is one of the best football/soccer strikers in the world, and by the time he’s done with his career, he’ll be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play the game. What I’ve loved about him at this World Cup, though, has nothing to do with his goals. It was his refusal to carry any pressure. Ahead of facing France in their group game, when people asked if France would win, he shrugged: “They’ll probably beat us and go on and win the whole tournament.” (And they did win 4-1 with Haaland rested). Then Norway went and stunned Brazil to reach their first-ever quarterfinal. Asked about their chances against England, he called them “really low” — his belief was that other teams are far more likely to lift the trophy, and England is one of them. None of this was humility for show. Norway genuinely weren’t favorites. But it would have been easy to lead with false bravado. Instead, Haaland choose self-deprecating humor to keep expectations low and to keep focus on just doing…