How youth coaches knew Haaland would be different

Espen Undheim smiles when remembering the first training sessions where he met Erling Haaland. The star didn't have the physical size he has today, but his former coach remembers seeing flashes of potential in that "skinny" boy, who showed a burning passion for the sport.

The two met at Bryne FK, a football club in the far south of Norway. Undheim was, and still is, the team's youth coach, and Haaland, then around 8 years old, was one of thousands of children in the region eager to learn the sport.

"What made him special was that he was always looking to score goals, even when he wasn't in a position to do so. He moved around and tried to put himself in situations where he could score," Undheim told CNN Sports.

"And when he scored goals, he celebrated a lot, running all over the field. Even as a child, I could see that he had an instinct for scoring goals."

It may not have seemed likely at the time, but this ability to score goals would later take Haaland to the top of the game, where he is now one of the best players on the planet.

Your numbers speak for themselves. In his four seasons at Manchester City, Haaland was the Premier League's top scorer on three occasions. Furthermore, he needed just 111 league games to score 100 goals in the competition, the fastest player to reach that milestone.

The 25-year-old also led Norway to this summer's World Cup - the first time his country has qualified for the tournament since 1998 - and is expected to shine on the biggest stage of all.

But before the fame and multimillion-dollar contracts, Haaland was just like any other kid growing up in her small Norwegian town.

Finding your passion
Undheim remembers how Haaland and her friends practically lived on an indoor soccer field in the city. If he wasn't eating, sleeping, or at school, he could be found there, kicking a ball around with a group of boys a year older than him.

He then began training three times a week after school in a program run by Undheim. After a few years, he was transferred to Bryne's youth team.

"At that time, he was pretty much just left-handed," Undheim said. "So he had to work a lot on his right foot to improve."

"But it all came down to his mentality. If he didn't get the ball, he got very angry with his teammates, and if he didn't score goals in obvious situations, he also got very angry with himself. That was something special about him."

That anger is still part of his game today. Even when he won the FA Cup for his club this season, Haaland was furious that a teammate didn't pass him the ball in the final play of the match. It's that drive and desire that helped him become the goal machine he is today.

But the important thing is that Haaland knows how to control this advantage, using it to help the team, not as a destructive force.

The origin of this mentality is not exactly clear, but there were two main influences, according to his former coach.

First, Undheim said Haaland's childhood environment in Byrne, a traditional farming community, helped him develop resilience. Second, he received good advice from his father, Alf-Inge Haaland, who also played professional football for Manchester City.

Haaland, Manchester City striker, celebrating his goal against Brentford - Reproduction/X/@ManCity
But despite having a famous father, Undheim claims that Haaland did not feel any extra pressure on his shoulders. As a child, he played just for fun.

"He was a typical city boy," says Undheim, smiling. "He was funny. He always responded very quickly. Before and after matches, he liked to make jokes."

"When I listen to interviews with him now, I can still say this is the same guy I knew from the Byrne days... he hasn't changed."

Physical development
But things started to get a little more serious as he rose through the youth ranks. At 15, he was already playing for Byrne's under-18 team and catching the attention of other clubs in Norway.

In 2017, he was signed by Molde, one of the biggest clubs in the country. After initially playing for the B team, he quickly broke into the first team with a series of goals that attracted the attention of some of Europe's biggest clubs.

It was around this time that Haaland also began to attract the attention of the national team. Leif Gunnar Smerud is currently the assistant coach for NWSL team Angel City. But the 49-year-old started his career in his home country of Norway.

In a diverse career, which also included working as a psychologist, Smerud was a coach of national youth teams, commanding the under-18 and under-21 teams, as well as stints as coach of the main men's and women's teams.

During his time with the Norwegian national team, he remembers a little buzz surrounding a young player named Erling, but told CNN Sports it wasn't anything too different from normal, at least at first.

"I saw him very early," he said. "We have these training camps in Norway for 14- and 15-year-old players."

"You could see he had a passion for football. We were looking for players who really had passion, almost more than talent, and he had that. He loved football and it showed."

"But his development was interesting and he really took off at a later stage. He was good, of course, but not like the one we all expected."

It was around this time that Haaland began to fully develop physically. For years, he had to find different ways to dribble past defenders, often facing opponents stronger than him.

As a teenager, however, Haaland began to grow and gain muscle mass. It's a physique that he has continued to develop to the point where he can now intimidate defenders with his size and speed.

Smerud states that not having this physical advantage in childhood was beneficial for his overall development.

"I think that helps a lot, because players who aren't very big as kids need to be smart," he said. "If you're really big when you're young and have a physical advantage, sometimes you can get into bad habits and get used to things working just because you're big."

"(Haaland) didn't have that, so he had to work on his reaction time, positioning, movement and technique, all those things. So I think that really helped him."

"I also think that the fact that he has the physique he has now helps him, because it is a high level sport."

Generation 2026: Making his World Cup debut, Haaland seeks to lead Norway to protagonism | CNN PRIME TIME

Nine goals in one game
Haaland has represented his country at various youth levels, but it was at the 2019 U20 World Cup that he really came into his own.

Despite Norway being eliminated in the group stage, Haaland was the tournament's top scorer, with all nine of his goals scored in the 12-0 rout of Honduras.

Smerud was the coach of the under-21 team at the time, but said Haaland's performances in the tournament quickly saw him promoted to the senior team.

It was also around this time that he signed for Austrian team RB Salzburg, where Haaland continued to live up to expectations.

He scored 28 goals in 22 games in his first season in Austria, including eight goals in six Champions League matches. It was this good phase that put him on the radar of the biggest clubs in Europe, especially Manchester United.

But it was German giant Borussia Dortmund that won the race to sign the young man, completing a transfer valued at more than 20 million dollars in 2019. In the Bundesliga, Haaland showed impressive football and quickly became one of the most sought-after players in world football.

A move to City in 2022 and four trophy-laden seasons followed, but those who knew him before can still see Bryne's little boy.

During 2021, there were concerns about the 2022 World Cup among players on the field. Norwegian striker Erling Braut Haaland wears a T-shirt with the slogan "Human rights, on and off the pitch" as he warms up before the match -
"I think his greatest quality is that he's the same guy he's always been. He's a good teammate, a good human being, and I don't think anything can change that," says Smerud.

"The dangers of success will always be there, but I would be very surprised if he didn't handle it well. He's from a part of the country where people will tell him if he's changing too much. He loves his hometown, he loves the people there, and if he loses their respect, I don't think anything else will matter to him."

And although Haaland has already captured the imagination of the football world, he could become an even bigger star if he can perform well at this summer's World Cup.

Norway face a tough group alongside France, Senegal and Iraq, but have enough talent to fight for a place in the knockout stages.

The Norwegians will face Iraq in their first group stage match, this Tuesday (16), and Haaland is expected to make his World Cup debut.

No matter what happens, he will have the support of his hometown of Bryne. Undheim says there are plans to invite 1,000 young players to the indoor pitch where Haaland used to play to watch the match between Norway and France.

"We are very proud of him. In our indoor arena, we have a painting of him 50 meters high and 15 meters wide," says Undheim.

"He's very, very popular, of course, and people are looking forward to seeing him at the World Cup."

Generation 2026: making his World Cup debut, Haaland seeks to surprise with Norway

Source: CNN